Cooking

is something that can never be associated with me... at all!

When I was a kid, my mom will always encourage me to cook or spend time with her in the kitchen and learn the basics (like cooking a sunny side egg!).

I always decline.

Of course, I do want to spend time with my mom so in turn, I devote my nights with her - chatting about her work, her friends and more.

If she is very insistent that I participate in the kitchen (according to her, being a girl, I or we, including my youngest sister, need to know how to use the kitchen because when we get married, we should be experts in this part of the house), I will help in preparing the dish, like chopping the garlic or onions, peel whatever needs to be peeled, chop whatever needs to be chopped.

Fast forward, living here in Dubai with R made me realise that I should have listened to my mom.

Being a newbie in this country about 10 years ago, we only have enough, i.e. we need to stay home more because we were not earning enough for us to go to dates and eat out - all the time.

It was a bit difficult I have to say. I had to really make an effort on learning the basics. At times, I can see some of my girl friends roll their eyes at me because I can't cook. They had this impression in their minds that I am a rich girl trying to be independent.

I am  not.

I did not come from a wealthy family. We are part of the middle class family who can afford to have help once in a while. When we don't have help, my mom always made sure there is food on the table or  prepared dishes stored in the fridge for us to re-heat (I know, I'm lucky!).

I was determined to learn more about cooking (oh by the way, I can bake! However who wants to eat cake or cookies for dinner right?). Good thing now, Google has been very friendly and I was able to search for recipes online.

My version of my grandmother's Kiampung (without the nuts)

I started on the easy stuff and voila, I was successful! I had my ups and downs to be honest. There were times when I had a lot of failures when it comes to whipping up a dish, I tend to stop (so that I can shrug off the bad luck! :P).

Cordon Bleu covered with Oatmeal (recipe grabbed from my friend, Caren) 

Being a wife to a very supportive husband, I always want to make sure that I experiment and re-create dishes. Some are still what we are used to (it's because R can only take about 2-3 experiment dishes at a time) like the sinigang or adobo however at times, I try to do some of it with a twist!

Lemon Garlic Shrimp Pasta (recipe from my cousin, Sheryll) 

Usually, inspiration to cook comes from various ways like recipes I see online and fortunately for us, we have Food Network on cable!!

We have been following Ina and Guy on their shows!!!

I hope that you get inspired too! :) The only problem that I have is being familiar with some of the ingredients and for the first time, I got acquainted with the spices available here in Dubai. I had a close encounter with the dill, parsley, fennel seeds and more. I still need to learn more but at least I have made the first step! :) 

Now, I really hope my love affair with cooking this does not catch up with my waist! :(