home-cook...

happy birthday to cafe munchkin... one of the many foodblogs i constantly visit and she just turned 1 last feb.12. because of this, she's giving aways gifts for a lucky blogger. the package? it's really nice and i hope i'll be fortunated and blessed to be picked. hehehe... :p

i've been blogging about my passion for cooking for 5 months now. i can't remember really when this passion started. all i can remember is that when we were kids, my father and grandmother (mother side) always cook for us. my father's a good cook; although he usually cook on weekends and his dishes are just the simple ones, it's still a hit for us. my grandmother was the one cooking for us on weekdays and she also cooks well. maybe my love for cooking started there when i always watched them prepare the ingredients and cook. then, later on as i get older and much older (highschool and college), i started cooking for my family since my father and mother got busy at work and my grandmother got older and had time moving around already. by then, i started collecting recipes from newspaper, magazines, brochures, and even at the back of canned goods labels (since internet's not that accessible during those times); and everytime there'll be a cooking show on tv, i'm there watching and taking notes. what inspired me most was that my family appreciated my efforts in preparing the dishes, they said, they just liked what i was cooking and maybe i have the talent in that field. it's so inspiring when you get the applaud of your family. hehehe... then when i got married and lived with my parents-in-law, i stopped cooking. it was for 3 years (i guess). but i didn't stop learning and collecting recipes. my father-in-law was a great cook and i believed that's where my husband got his share of passion for cooking as well. i observed my father-in-law everytime he cooks and he cooks special dishes that i only happened to taste that time. he cooks for the family and every special occassions were really special because he's the one preparing the dishes... and if he's the one preparing the dishes, then, it's really good. (i will miss him... we'll all miss him... since he's gone now...) today, we're living in uae and i'm a stay-at-home-mother of almost 2. since we got here, i've been cooking for my family and friends. and it was here where i was able to explore this passion. i started surfing the net for recipes and i came to these wonderful foodblogs that inspired me more to cook. thanks to them :D. i'm also grateful to my husband for supporting me and tasting/eating the dishes i prepared, he's my greatest critic. hehehe... on the other hand, he loves cooking, too. it's so nice to share the same passion with the ones you love. there are days that we share insights about food and we also cooked together.

i'm not particular on the dishes or food i prepare. as long as it's easy and ingredients are readily available, i want to try it. however, i usually like filipino dishes as well as pasta... and i started to enjoy baking this year. baking is what i really liked even when i was still in highschool; i just didn't have an oven and i was so afraid to try since during those times i couldn't afford to fail and my dishes go to waste. but now, that i have an oven and i can say that i can take the risks of failing or not doing so good, i had the guts to bake. so far... so good... it's a blessing. :)

i like eating out either with friends or just us family. but as much as possible, i always want to prepare a homecooked meal. with that, i know that's it's prepared well and the nutrients are there also. and it's the feeling that you feel when you cook for your family and they appreciate it. it's a different feeling and you get more inspired everyday... not to mention the feeling of tiredness and boredom just staying at home is erased. truly, homecooked meals makes a family closer together.

i know that as i get older, i will still be cooking and preparing dishes for my family together with my husband... although there will be times i will lose the mojo but it won't be for long, it will always find me back. it's my prayer that my children will have the same passion we have.

so much to say about cooking and food... "let's live, love and eat" (chef wolfgang puck).