On Cooking

"Cooking is like love, it should be entered into with abandon or not at all."
- Harriet van Horne

The long and short of it.. I'm starting to pick up cooking again (The last time I cooked regularly was for myself was when I was in Paris for exchange), and the thing is, it's different cooking just for yourself versus cooking for another person...

(At this point, some would be wondering if by 'another person' I mean my significant other, and by 'cooking' I mean trying to make something for my s.o, just like how it typically happens in cliche girly mangas. Sigh. To a certain extent, it is true.) *stare 15mins into space and wonders how-the-hell-did-this-happen..*

(By the way, having so much fun with said significant other while juggling thesis work, capoeira, and Life-in-general is the reason this blog has been totally neglected.. but I'll try to update regularly now.. I realize I like, and need, to write my thoughts just to keep them in check.)

Back to cooking. I've started spending time with the cook at my place, just observing her in the kitchen, asking questions.. and what my conclusion is that the amount of knowledge required, effort expanded, and nuances to take care of is nothing short of A.M.A.Z.I.N.G...

How is one supposed to know that squids require a thicker coating of flour than prawns before deep-frying? That vegetables will stay green if they are quickly blanched before stir-fried? That some deep-fried items require three-level adjustments of heat? The amount of minute details to pay attention to is mind-boggling, as some of you legitimate cooks will know, but that is precisely why cooking is not a mere chore but is elevated into a skill, an art form.

Another conclusion: unless you are someone who really loves cooking and do it for its own sake, most of the satisfaction from cooking comes from making people who eat your food happy.
Cliche as it is, indeed cooking is an act of love. *stare another 15mins into space and wonders where-did-those-words-come-from*

Anyway, still another aspect of cooking is that, to love cooking I think one has to love food.. And I'm still finding my balance in that.. I mean, I love anything coated with chocolate, of course, but for the most part the food I love is Asian food cooked quite simply, with lotsa vegetables that still retain their 'crunch'... but I don't like anything too 'processed', too unhealthy, too oily, too sweet, and on top of that, meat is off-limits... Add all that and actually I survive pretty well on salads, raw fruits, simple rice and noodle dishes, tofu and tempe haha... *which resulted in me calling my style 'survival cooking' ;p * How does one cook more elaborate dishes while being convinced that simplistic cooking is the best?

Still another thing.. I realize that my relationship with food has developed into more of a 'health-freak' type.. I'm wary of too much food, preferring to finish eating before I'm truly full, and given a choice I find exercise and moving my body around oftentimes more enjoyable than eating haha..

Then again, remembering all those times my mom and nanny cooked various comfort food for me, how my brothers loved trying out my baked goodies, and realizing how food has the power to bring people together in smiles of appreciation and enjoyment, am starting to think cooking is a skill that takes a long while to master, but will never be boring and is worth learning.

"There is no spectacle on earth more appealing than that of a beautiful woman cooking dinner for someone she loves."
- Thomas Wolfe
*a rather chauvinistic quote, what with the woman having to be 'beautiful', but it does bring to mind the image of my mom cooking for my family, and beaming when she sees us enjoying the food, and so I will still put the quote there.*