Come Away with Me

Like Mother Like Daughter?

This was how my fridge looked like during my earlier months here. My friend who visited commented that it didn't look the least bit like the fridge of someone who is staying alone. Indeed it looked as if i could feed an entire family with the content inside.

I guess unknowingly i was trying to replicate mom's fridge. Coming from a larger than average family with a full-time homemaker mom, the fridge at home has always been well-stocked. And a sumptuos homecooked meal is always just well a fridge away.

The other probable reason why i overstocked was because i seldom grocery shop around my area as price of foodstuff are generally higher than the ones in the northern part of Kamigoto. And because i depended entirely on others who would give me a ride whenever they go up north during the weekend, that was when hell broke lose and my trolley would be all piled up before i knew it! Though i soon learnt my lesson the hard way. In a pathetic attempt to save a couple of hundred yen, the vegetables and fruits started going bad at a rate faster than i could consume them.

These days though i mainly buy fresh produce from the little mini-mart around my area. There is something really special about preparing one's meal from the freshest ingredients. Not only do food taste better they look much nicer too. Though a little pricier, it is actually a much wiser move as i stopped feeling stressed everytime i opened my fridge knowing that the food are all rotting away slowly but surely.

While i helped out around the kitchen back home whenever i had the time, i've always regard cooking as being difficult, a task which requires a tremendous amount of effort and time. Looking back, i guess that was because i had the good fortune of growing up with hearty and healthy homecooked food so venturing into mom's territory was not much of a necessity. Moreover, for many of us, given our hectic lifestyle, who would really have the time and mood to whip up a meal after a hard day's work at the office.

But ever since i've started living on my own and the fact that there are very few eateries where i am here, there wasn't much of an option. With the help of simple cookbooks and home recipes which i jotted down before coming over, together with long-distance phone instructions from mom, i got down to business in my little kitchen. And that was when i discover the joy of cooking.

Recalling a recent MSN conversation with my best friend who studied in Australia for a couple of years, both of us couldn't agree more that it is actually very therapeutic to cook. Even the simple act of cutting and slicing the food bring an unexplainable kind of joy. Not to mention the sheer exhilaration when the product of a trial and error effort turned out way better than expected; the realisation of how different ingredients come together to give a certain kind of taste and how unbelievable that there are so many ways of using and handling the same ingredients in creating a dozen other kind of dishes. The more time i spend experimenting in the kitchen, the more i enjoy the whole process of it.

Indeed, cooking is one of those skills which i consider essential and useful to have, if not for the sake of family and kids in the future, but simply for pure survival. While we all know how difficult it is to go hungry in Singapore where cheap and good food are easily available island-wide, preparing your own meals allows you to control the stuff and amount that goes into it and is thus a much healthier (not to mention cheaper) option than eating out on a regular basis.

Even though i don't find cooking as daunting as before, i am still trudging delicately around the kitchen. Right now, unless i am going for a potluck party or have guests over when i will try to prepare more local foodstuff, i usually try to cook more Japanese dishes as the ingredients are easily available here. When i get home, i will be sure to stick around mom to learn her signature dishes and all her tried and tested all time favorites that would be a waste not to be pass on along to the next generation.

While it is not my intention to turn this into some sort of food blog, do be prepared to read much on my (mis)adventures in the kitchen in the following months ahead! That having said, more pictures and recipes coming your way!

posted by テレサ @ 10:20 PM