When I want you in my arms when I want you
and all your charms whenever I want you
All I have to do is drea-ea-ea-m, dream, dream, dream
Dreaming about food all the time has become my favorite pastime. My love of food started at home at the age of fifteen when I was allowed to experiment with food and all the recipes that came in the local newspaper. I had this funny idea that I could cook better than my mother, who by the way, is an excellent cook. I never wanted to follow her tips and techniques about cooking. We always disagreed with each other’s way of doing things, although I did learn a lot from her.
First, we had to start with how to shop for things like meat, poultry, vegetables, fish, and other groceries. After we came back from the market, it was stocking and storing things in the right place and the proper way. Then was her teaching me how to fry things and sauté things and why some things should be cooked at certain temperatures and how the dough should be mixed just up to a certain point. But somehow I never wanted to pay attention. I thought that was something that you learned as you go along.
By the end of the summer vacation, I was pretty sure I was an expert in cooking and all other things. I even made my own recipe book from all those newspaper recipes which were glued on with some rice starch made by my mother. Now I was allowed to cook every time my mother was not well, but I wouldn’t cook normal everyday stuff. I had to try those recipes when my mother was sick because that was the only opportunity I got. As a result, my cooking was never finished on time. It always took me around 3–4 hours to complete some recipe and my parents and my sister had to wait for lunch till 3:00 in the afternoon!
Now I have been married for seven years. And I still do not like to make food the way it is made, i.e. I never follow any recipe. After coming to the U.S. I have had the chance to try out all the international cuisines and I am so happy to see the diversity of cultures. A simple thing like eggplant can be made is so many ways!! Going to the grocery gives me a lot of satisfaction. I can look at a vegetable and think up all the concoctions I can create. And I am glad I have a husband who doesn’t mind trying out all those dishes, but not without giving constructive criticism. And the cooking gets done a lot faster than before.
