Fiwd

Did you know that I cooked for my family last Pahiyas Festival? My father wasn’t around so I was the one who cooked for the holiday. Actually, I also cooked for Noche Buena and Media Noche last Christmas vacation. I have also cooked for family picnics, and during meals.

I love cooking. My father is a great cook. Although he didn’t directly teach me how to cook, I always observe him while he was cooking. I had my own experiments in cooking. I like watching cooking shows and reading cookbooks. That’s how I learned to cook.

I don’t use measuring cups or spoons while cooking. I imitate the chefs on TV and use my instinct to measure my ingredients. I think that it’s a mark of a true chef. Haha.

Last Pahiyas, I cooked beef (carabao) caldereta, chicken ala king, and chopsuey. These dishes are not easy to make. I used carabao meat in cooking caldereta. One thing I hate about carabao meat is that it’s so tough to cook. It takes hours before it becomes tender. Our chicken ala king was so plain so I added mushrooms. The chopsuey is also plain-looking because we have limited ingredients.

I cooked spaghetti sauce last Christmas. I have also prepared carbonara for my family, and the usual pancit, which my mother always asks me to cook, when I’m home. My usual mistake is that I put too much salt, soy sauce, or fish sauce that’s why it comes out salty. Sometimes, my siblings even avoided eating food that I cooked because they knew it was salty. But I’m changing that and I am now very cautious in using salt, soy sauce and fish sauce.

There are lots of new things to try with cooking. I have always wanted to cook mouth-watering dishes; those types that are found in 5-star restaurants. Someday, I want to have my own kitchen. I have always wanted to have an oven, because with an oven, I can do everything with it. I can bake, roast, broil, everything!

My favorite chef is Rachael Ray, she’s the best! I really like her show 30-Minute Meals. It’s practical plus it’s easy to cook. I haven’t tried any of her dishes because I always forget them. Same with cookbooks, I have read a dozen of cookbooks but I can’t remember any single recipe. Well, there are lots of times in the future to cook all those recipes.

I also like watching Iron Chef. It’s fascinating how they can come up with five different delicious dishes in just one hour, and yet it always looks elegant. When I watch the show, I would imagine that I’m in the kitchen stadium and I would think hard on what dishes I will make.

I would like to enroll in a culinary school but it’s so expensive. There are lots of chefs out there and it’s hard to be competitive because everyone seems good.

I suppose I’d just consider cooking as a hobby. Someday, I want to put up our own restaurant. I have a concept and I’ll wait to say it to my father so we can plan for it together.