The new cook

Tracing my background, I grew up in a home with good cooks. My grandma is the best there is, the best there was, and for me, the best there ever will be. I used to go with her to places whenever she’s invited on different occasions (and that’s hundred of times) to be the main chef and patisserie at the same time. I’ve seen how good she was, how everything was cut almost perfect—size, shape, etc.—equally and done in a way taste buds can’t resist. She is just so good; the effect in me was the reverse. I had fear holding knives thinking I cannot be good enough.

My parents are good cooks too, especially my father. He knows distinctly how to make something taste uniquely wonderful. My brothers are good cooks themselves. My youngest brother, now 18, does very well with rice cakes. My eldest sister is someone who seems to know all kinds of recipe. Even my two sisters-in-law are unbelievably great!

Growing up from this kind of environment actually was the reason I didn’t learn to cook. How pathetic. Everybody at home can do it, there’s no reason to waste time and ingredients having me in the kitchen, let them handle it. What I’m good at is preparing everything they would need—the huge cooking wares, the large stick, etc. (in our language, kawa, balanga, palayok, kaldero, kaserola, tikin, sandok na mahaba, kutsilyo, planggana, everything!.) and eventually cleaning up the mess they left after cooking. Nobody wants to do that. That’s where I get a chance to be in the kitchen. The cleaner. No doubt, they would all be looking for me after cooking scene is over.

Since I stayed in the apartment, almost a year now, I started to break that ignorance. My friends (there are three of us living together) and I had to cook for ourselves, like a family used to do. So, one by one, we learned to cook the food we wanted to eat. Sometimes we ask others the recipe and do it at home. The learning experience is really fun since there’s nobody to pressure us about the taste. I remember, when we were just making our first tries we have this creed: Everything that is cooked in this kitchen is delicious! Haha, and so we made ourselves believe that until now.

Today, I basically do most of the cooking in our home in the apartment. They say it’s good; I would usually bring some at lunch in the office and they would taste it. My boss even said it’s very good. What she’s telling me now is to learn how to present it well. And that’s the second part of my lesson. So far, my ‘grades’ in cooking is very satisfactory.

So what do you think, am I going to be like my ancestors? Hahaha! Well, see.