Cooking for Food & Cooking for Pleasure
Though I am a people person, I also treasure moments of being all alone. Whenever I am all by myself, I think more clearly and maintain more my focus. Whenever I am alone, I start to see things in different perspective, very unlike what other people think about them. I become more creative. I become more imaginative. I explore, innovate then recreate - fashion out things from scratch. This is how I started my creative passion for cooking. I love cooking, preparing gourmet dishes out of ordinary ingredients. I cook for myself, but I definitely enjoy more cooking for the family and close friends. I just love the high that comes after cooking for others, creating something that satisfies discriminating palates of relatives and close acquaintances. The feeling is addictive.
I spent my childhood years with my paternal grandmother. She can cook very well. She was I think my first teacher in cooking. I always looked at her before whenever she was cooking. But because I was small then, I never got to handle anything yet and really cooked. She was a great influence though. I don't bake but I was also very fascinated before looking at my aunt prepare some holiday pastries. She has a special recipe for a short cake which is until today a hit to everyone. Unfortunately, she has grown old and nobody learned from her. I would like to believe that I do, but I don't bake. The preparation is more meticulous and time consuming, thus tiring. I salute, therefore, my great aunt. Great cooking, hence, is in my blood so to say. I have a Lola that cooks well. I have an Auntie that does equally as well. They are my first cooking mentors.
Another of my great influences is our house help before. She was young when she came to live with us. She served the family for 23 long years. She was very diligent and respectful that we adopted her as really part of the family. She can also cook very well. Her expertise ranges from native home-style delicacies, meat dishes, cakes and pastries to desserts. It was a delight watching her do what she did best in the kitchen. In her own humble way of cooking, she cooked her way to every family member's heart...and stomach. I learned from her the finer points of cutting, preparing and maintaining the freshness of vegetables. It was also from her where I learned how to concoct meat soups usually with Spanish flare. She can baked pineapple sunny side up and butter cake to a tee just only for afternoon merienda. I miss both today whenever I have my afternoon coffee.
When I started cooking for the family and some close friends and reaped afterwards the accolades that came after every hearty meal, I decided that I have to be serious with my cooking hobby. I still consider cooking as one of my productive hobbies. I meant no offense, when cooking is supposed to be a science and must be given the importance it deserves being one. I bought a number cookery books and started reading. I learned a lot through reading and then practicing what I have understood. There were burnt eggs along the way, soggy veggies here and there but through dedication and constant cooking, I learned, notwithstanding all the complaints from the family. I still have with me some of the cooking books. Some of them though were with my friends now who also wanted to cook.
With the proliferation of so many TV channels devoted solely to instructional cooking, my passion for cooking today is at its greatest. I dig for Curtis Stone in Take Home Chef and Bobby Chin for World Cafe Asia. I love Curtis's simple take on complicated gourmet dishes. His style of presenting is simple yet the dishes created are superb. Bobby's theatrical flare with a dash of kitchen joke entertains me. I also go for Asian cuisine - its varied texture and rich spices remind me of my roots. Besides these two, there are other TV shows that deal with cooking. All these have helped me become much better in the kitchen. Not to mention that these shows also have greatly raised my respect to all people inside the kitchen who prepare us our food, from the most lowly kitchen orderly to the master chef.
I am sure it is not only true to me that being alone brings out the creative best in a person. A lot of us dread being all alone. I think it is because there is too much silence when one is alone. However, it is in silence only that you get to listen very well - silence of the mind, silence of the lips and silence of the heart. Although I am a people person, I embrace silence. I love being all alone, being silent for once. It is total silence that allows me to think more about myself, make an inventory of my strengths and work on my weaknesses. I have discovered so many things about myself only in silence. I think it was when I was all alone in the house and I felt hungry that I discovered that I can cook. I may have been pushed by the occasion, but if I have not been left alone in silence, I would not have picked the pan and started cooking. After all, one of man's most basic need he can't live without is food.
I spent my childhood years with my paternal grandmother. She can cook very well. She was I think my first teacher in cooking. I always looked at her before whenever she was cooking. But because I was small then, I never got to handle anything yet and really cooked. She was a great influence though. I don't bake but I was also very fascinated before looking at my aunt prepare some holiday pastries. She has a special recipe for a short cake which is until today a hit to everyone. Unfortunately, she has grown old and nobody learned from her. I would like to believe that I do, but I don't bake. The preparation is more meticulous and time consuming, thus tiring. I salute, therefore, my great aunt. Great cooking, hence, is in my blood so to say. I have a Lola that cooks well. I have an Auntie that does equally as well. They are my first cooking mentors.
Another of my great influences is our house help before. She was young when she came to live with us. She served the family for 23 long years. She was very diligent and respectful that we adopted her as really part of the family. She can also cook very well. Her expertise ranges from native home-style delicacies, meat dishes, cakes and pastries to desserts. It was a delight watching her do what she did best in the kitchen. In her own humble way of cooking, she cooked her way to every family member's heart...and stomach. I learned from her the finer points of cutting, preparing and maintaining the freshness of vegetables. It was also from her where I learned how to concoct meat soups usually with Spanish flare. She can baked pineapple sunny side up and butter cake to a tee just only for afternoon merienda. I miss both today whenever I have my afternoon coffee.
When I started cooking for the family and some close friends and reaped afterwards the accolades that came after every hearty meal, I decided that I have to be serious with my cooking hobby. I still consider cooking as one of my productive hobbies. I meant no offense, when cooking is supposed to be a science and must be given the importance it deserves being one. I bought a number cookery books and started reading. I learned a lot through reading and then practicing what I have understood. There were burnt eggs along the way, soggy veggies here and there but through dedication and constant cooking, I learned, notwithstanding all the complaints from the family. I still have with me some of the cooking books. Some of them though were with my friends now who also wanted to cook.
With the proliferation of so many TV channels devoted solely to instructional cooking, my passion for cooking today is at its greatest. I dig for Curtis Stone in Take Home Chef and Bobby Chin for World Cafe Asia. I love Curtis's simple take on complicated gourmet dishes. His style of presenting is simple yet the dishes created are superb. Bobby's theatrical flare with a dash of kitchen joke entertains me. I also go for Asian cuisine - its varied texture and rich spices remind me of my roots. Besides these two, there are other TV shows that deal with cooking. All these have helped me become much better in the kitchen. Not to mention that these shows also have greatly raised my respect to all people inside the kitchen who prepare us our food, from the most lowly kitchen orderly to the master chef.
I am sure it is not only true to me that being alone brings out the creative best in a person. A lot of us dread being all alone. I think it is because there is too much silence when one is alone. However, it is in silence only that you get to listen very well - silence of the mind, silence of the lips and silence of the heart. Although I am a people person, I embrace silence. I love being all alone, being silent for once. It is total silence that allows me to think more about myself, make an inventory of my strengths and work on my weaknesses. I have discovered so many things about myself only in silence. I think it was when I was all alone in the house and I felt hungry that I discovered that I can cook. I may have been pushed by the occasion, but if I have not been left alone in silence, I would not have picked the pan and started cooking. After all, one of man's most basic need he can't live without is food.
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