“Food is the unsung hero of life.”
– Rashmi Bopitiya
I exercise a decent amount.
But all exercising has ever done is kept me from gaining excess weight because the rate at which I eat overtakes the rate at which my metabolism works by a stretch. With that said, I love food the same way adrenaline junkies love challenging their physical limits. And honestly, I am the best type of foodie because I am not one that is overly fond of junk food but rather, I have a delicate palate that absolutely loves foreign cuisines. Any day, I will prefer a quality meal over snacking. Any day I will prefer a palate of fruits over chips. But by the end of the day, I am a foodie because I find joy and happiness in indulging myself in this world. They say abs are made in the kitchen, but so are cinnamon rolls, dumplings, dark chocolate oatmeal cookies and many more.
Anyways, for the last 18 years of my life, the kitchen has served me one purpose: the place where I will find food. Preparing food? Oh no, I have hated it for a long time. I fault my father for that; he is the one who made me first realize the joy of a deliciously cooked dish but he is also the reason why I would never prepare one for myself. Having spent majority of his life in China, my father picked up many skills and techniques for preparing dishes from East Asian cuisines. He is incredibly skilled in this department and it is one of the perks of being his daughter. However, when he is in the kitchen, it is so intense. No one member of my household is at rest, we need to be at his beck and call at all times and growing up, the prospect of cooking being “fun” slowly diminished. So much focus, attention and preparation was required, how could this be a leisure activity in any way?
After 7th grade, my contributions to kitchen duties reduced significantly and I never really bothered to learn or enhance my skills in the department. Being a senior however, it dawned on me that I will have to eventually learn to cook and survive in university so I decided to use quarantine time to learn to cook.
I took out some recipe books we have had on our bookshelf for years and looked through some recipes. I was inspired to make a cake which seemed fairly simple to make. It didn’t go well. in fact, it went horribly and I truly pity my parents for having to eat that rock hard flat…thing. I decided to not bake thereafter and tried my hand at savory items; a chicken and mushroom frittata. Now, this turned out great. And maybe it was the experience of failure or simply the joy in my parents’ faces after I served them the frittata but a desire sparked within me. The desire to cook delicious meals.
Iced Coffee and Banana Flapjacks!
It has been about two weeks since then and my skills have advanced significantly. I have tackled so many different styles of dishes, found alternatives, enhanced my culinary skills to the point that I now prepare meals for my family. Now, I will discuss three dishes I made and why they were unique and absolutely thrilling to make.
- FAMILY DINNER
This was the first, most challenging meal I tackled. Last week, I decided to make dinner for my entire family without any support. I made a lime and mint spritzer juice alongside mashed potatoes, grilled tomatoes with rosemary and garlic, omelet souffle and banana flapjacks to go as dessert. The meal took hours to prepare but it was definitely worth it as my family really enjoyed it. The experience was unique because it was the first full meal I had prepared by myself and it turned out very successful despite only doing each of those dishes for the first time. It was also special because a lot of additional research beyond the recipe books went into its creation so I was glad to see my efforts pay off.
- CINNAMON ROLLS
This was an experience like no other. A friend of mine from Dubai and I decided to try virtually baking together. Both of us being total amateurs decided to tackle cinnamon rolls! I mean, go big or go home right? We prepared for a week, researching different recipes, getting ingredients despite all the restriction and challenges with getting produce delivered, etc. I was still missing a few ingredients so I had to find substitutes. For example, I made a mixture of baking soda and lime juice and kept it under the sun to ferment as a substitute for yeast. It wasn’t the most effective but it was better than nothing. We set up a zoom meeting and she and I did all the steps together, taking us five hours in total to make the cinnamon rolls. Five hours! The kneading process was incredibly difficult and strenuous but it was so worth it by the end. The experience was unique because I virtually baked with a friend and it was a great way to get something done while involving a friend into it.
Cinnamon Rolls!
- GYOZA WITH MY FATHER
I finally decided to cook with my father after so many years. We decided to make dumplings at seven in the night and we finished by about 11. Late? I know. But it was a spontaneous decision which I am so incredibly glad I made because this time, for the first time, I enjoyed cooking with him. Trust me, making dumplings was so incredibly difficult and I messed up the dough the first time around, leaving my mother to make roti out of it. But my second attempt turned out great and I did it a third time around which also produced a great dough. The whole process of rolling and filling the dough was time-consuming, fatiguing and required so much precision it was borderline ridiculous. My mother kept staring at the two of us as if we were insane to be cooking such a difficult dish at such ungodly hours but still, we enjoyed the challenge. It was even better because for the first time, there was something in Asian cuisine that I was better than him at: filling and closing up the dumplings. He was terrible at it so he did the rolling of the dough while I did the filling. It was really satisfying to enjoy cooking with my father and be better than him at one thing. I felt really accomplished. And the dumplings turned out so delicious that even if it was midnight by the time I got to eating them, it was still very much worth it.
I will keep at it and improve my cooking skills as the weeks go by but I am really glad I have come to enjoy it. in fact, I haven’t ordered any food from any restaurant since quarantine and I owe that to myself for preparing desserts, meals and beverages that are enough to satisfy my cravings!