So what's cooking?

Great cooks surround me: my grandma, moms, aunts, cousins and most of my family members!

I grew up hearing everyone saying that my mom was a superb cook.

Not much later, I found out that my Chinese mother-in-law was also considered an excellent cook.

I guess I took all this good food, that nourished me, for granted as I was growing up.

I have to admit that as I left my teens behind and entered my 20s, I noticed that people paid a great deal of attention to good cooks and the delicious meals they could prepare.

In all honesty, I don't cook much. In fact, I can go for months without cooking. Yet, when I do, Jared is full of praise for me, claiming that I am a good cook.

Fact is that I hate cooking. I just don't enjoy it. I find it tedious and a sheer waste of time. You really have to be desperate if you only cook for yourself, at least in Malaysia, when food is available at every corner. For me, it's a case of being surrounded by so many shops, with the most variety of the best foods available! My mom is just around the corner!  Often she calls me to pick up something special that she made so I can take it home for dinner.  My Chinese mother-in-law also does that when she prepares one of my favourites.  I am quite blessed!

Lately, I've noticed on Facebook that some family and friends have begun putting up their easy-to-make family recipes for meals and cakes, etc. The pictures they put up makes me want to run to the market to buy the ingredients and then cook up a storm. However, cooking for one can be a turn-off. So I almost never cook. In any case, I would consider myself as one "who eats to live" rather than "who lives to eat".

I love cakes and my cousin Donnie tortures me with all the wonderful pictures of her creations,  which you can also find on Facebook too.

The advantage of not being a "cook" is that I am easily contented with the average fair. For those who cook, I notice that they are usually never satisfied with "outside" food. They always feel that they can do better and so are never truly able to enjoy eating any other food except their own. It isn't wrong to enjoy one's own food but it does seem a tad sad when you can't find joy, eating elsewhere. This is only a generalisation. I'm sure there are great cooks who appreciate eating what others cook too. Rare but I’m sure they exist.

I realised as well that each cook considers that his or her version of any famous dish is "the" one.

Take for example, the Eurasian "Devil Curry". The Eurasian community boasts of this as being their sort of signature dish. It would be a sin for any Eurasian girl not to know how to make it. Each Eurasian family, in turn, claim that their "Devil Curry" is the authentic one. I have probably eaten a hundred variations of "Devil Curry" prepared by my mom, mother-in-law, aunts, uncles, family, friends as well as the ones found in Portuguese homes/restaurants. Each time I am offered the curry, I had been told it was the real deal. Each time I ate the curry; there was a slight variation in the taste. Of all that I had, I like best, the one that my Chinese mother-in-law does. To me, that is the standard of "Devil Curry" by which I judge all others.

My friend, Hani just put up her recipes with photos on Facebook. You can find it under "Hani's Recipes".  She confesses that when she got married, she didn’t know how to cook and through the years, has evolved into “my idea of an accomplished” cook. So I am thrilled that when I need a recipe for “Lamb Yoghurt Curry”, “Singapore pepper crab” or “Stir Fry Spinach Indian Style”, I only need to check her Notes.

To cook or not to cook? That is the question, only for those who cook!

Dedicated to Donnie and Hani!