I didn’t always cook. In my early twenties, I was the queen of grilled cheese sandwiches for dinner. But I’ve been properly cooking for a long time now, and am still experimenting every day nearly every most days weeks.
My mother grew up during hard times, totally self-sufficient on a farm in eastern Europe. She didn’t just plant, fertilise, pick, pickle, feed, gut, cure, smoke, milk, churn and sell, she also cooked for family and itinerant workers. Her relationship to food was a chore.
I grew up in a very different world. My relationship to food was LAZY. Long story short, one day as an adult I set myself the task of cooking a new meal each week. When it’s on your list of “want tos” and not “have tos”, learning’s not a burden.
Fast forward to happy family dinners and dinner parties, which included my beautiful mother at the table, too. And yes, sometimes enjoying delicately-delicious stewed pears.
“If more of us valued food and cheer and song above hoarded gold, it would be a merrier world.”
-J.R.R. Tolkein – the hobbit
For visitors here, I’m not a chef or even one of those major foodies. Like you, I look in the pantry every day and scratch my head. I’ve also been a writer, in one form or another, all my life. I began writing this site for my daughter, who asked for my favourite recipes (the best compliment of all!), and who’s enjoyed my cooking ever since I used to feed her little spoonfuls of home-made baby puree.
If you find something of value, that would be pretty cool, too.
