My mom is a great cook and I have to thank her for passing her love of cooking to me. She always let me help her in the kitchen – washing vegetables, rice and cutting small things. She never told me to get out of her way when she was trying to cook. Nor did she pressure me to learn to cook because I was a girl and needed to learn that sort of thing. She just let me observe and absorb. Although she wasn’t too crazy about my non-stop questioning, she never made me leave the kitchen. I was always a very curious child asking question after question. There is actually a Cantonese phrase for that which roughly translates to “breaking a sand bin with non-stop questions”. I know it sounds a bit weird in English, it makes more sense in Cantonese and it even has a ring to it.
I remember learning to cook by watching my mom, asking questions and her letting me help. I learned how to gut a fish and clean squids at quite a young age. Even today, one of my favourite things to do is cleaning squids. Yes I know it sounds gross but it’s somehow very therapeutic to me.
I am lucky to have a mother who is very adventurous in the food realm. She often experiments with different things she’s seen or read. I have to say because of my mom’s love and adventure for food, my brothers and I love to eat and are always in search of new culinary delights! I think my kiddies already possess a bit of food obsession like my brothers and I. Practically every day the boys ask, “What are we eating for dinner?” My baby girl makes “ummm” noises when she eats something she likes and actually requests specific foods. I am hoping to pass on the love of food to my children the same way my mom passed it on to me 🙂 .
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