Cooking

Photo by Heather Ford on Unsplash

I don’t know if I have ever mentioned it; but I don’t really enjoy cooking. I was never much into cooking. I have always loved baking but not cooking. I guess when I was younger it was because I was grossed out by raw meat. The first three things I learned to cook involved ground lamb which I didn’t have to touch at all. One of them was actually a vegetarian dish.

My father opened the door to cooking for me when he bought me an Italian cook book. I was already obsessed with Italy. I studied about Italian architecture and their magnificent gardens and I was in love with anything and everything Italian. I confess that even then, I didn’t make much contact with raw meat. Haha. I did learn new recipes and one included fish! So that was a big step for me.

My mother is an amazing cook. Everything she makes is amazing. I think part of it is because she makes it with so much love. I have always helped her in the kitchen, chopping vegetables, stuffing grape leaves and cabbage leaves… I guess I preferred the artistic part, the precise part. I made the most beautiful kuba. I was specific shaping them all into the exact size and shape. Even my mother in law says I make the best ones.

When I got married, I mainly cooked Italian. We have always lived with my mother in law which is a huge blessing. She loves cooking and finds joy in feeding people. She is also the most amazing cook ever! We joke that even when she doesn’t make an effort or skips a step her food tastes delicious.  So, I rarely need to cook. I do make dinner for my kids but it usually involves pasta and tomato sauce. Young children are easy to please. Not that my husband isn’t. He will eat anything I cook and doesn’t complain. Not even when I made him burnt chicken, under cooked brown rice and a salty salad for lunch. Haha. That was when we were newlywed and I honestly didn’t have much experience in cooking. I did wash the salad which actually helped. Haha.

Now, I cook all sorts of different cuisine. I know not everything I cook is authentic. I’ve learned how to cook most of the typical dishes eaten here. I try to make dishes as authentic as possible. My oldest loves cooking and is a great help in the kitchen. He also helps choose new dishes to try. He is my critique and is always reminding me how unauthentic my Italian dishes are! Haha, the irony!

The past year with the renovation my mother in law lived with her daughter for a couple of months which meant that I had to cook. I tried to embrace cooking. I tried new recipes, my husband and children are very encouraging. But honestly, I still would rather hire my own personal chef. Wouldn’t most of us though?!

My mother in law just left on Wednesday for a two month vacation in her summer home in Jordan. Which means I’m back to cooking again. I’m not very excited about it but I will still cook.

I will post as many recipes as I can throughout the week on Instagram and Pinterest. I’ll try some new recipes. Maybe this time I’ll find the joy in cooking that my mother and mother in law have.