But My Momma Said....

Growing up, my mom always had breakfast for my brother and I before we left for school. Normally, that consisted of one of the following: a deluxe breakfast which was usually eggs, bacon, sausage, pancakes, orange juice, and an assortment of fresh fruit etc., leftover bento boxes from the previous night's dinner, egg mcmuffins, bagels with cream cheese and cut fruit, Chinese rice congee with about five different dishes from a can to pick from such as pickled radish, spicy eel, dried pork, spicy tofu, spicy bamboo, and mian jin (wheat gluten and my favorite!) or special Chinese rice congee with abalone, duck eggs and scallops. Sometimes, the overload of such extravagant breakfast menu items meant my brother and I were psyched to have pop tarts or Lucky Charm's! But often, even the cereal would have to be accompanied with some type of fresh cut or peeled fruit such as honey dew, oranges, clementines, cantaloupe, watermelon, kiwis, apples, pears, strawberries, or grapes. Rarely were we allowed to leave the table without having finished both our meal and serving of fruit. No... we weren't spoiled! It's just an Asian mom thing.... I mean, we weren't the only kids to get fresh cut fruit ...but we were the only kids to get fresh cut grapes, peeled and without seeds (she would manually remove 'em). So I guess you could say we were a lil bit spoiled....

In many ways, preparing food and cooking is my mom's thing. She doesn't often ask us for help with the actual cooking... only to help unload the groceries, set the table or clear and wash the dishes. So when my brother and I began baking or cooking... she seemed indifferent and unimpressed. And then... when I moved out on my own, I found out - she was neither when she told me one day, "Don't worry about learning how to cook now - you will learn eventually when you're married and cooking everyday."

With that nugget of truth, I have started to fear how awful my cooking may be or how unfortunate my poor future husband to be will be since come June, I will be cooking everyday (almost). I'm pretty good at the non-cooking essentials such as washing fruit, preparing sandwiches and tossing salads. But actually "COOKING" is a whole other story! Though I have some experience, it is fairly little and I have lots to learn. And so, I have begun to follow recipes - with the hope that the more I cook, the easier it will become - the more I'll be able to figure out what is easy to cook based on the ingredients already in the house and grocery shopping will be simplified.

I figure cooking will be like everything else I try to do consistently such as scripture study and gym time. It might seem uncomfortable at first and I might have to rely on recipes when I begin... just like I might rely on study guides and instructional videos. But now.. I know where to go to find conference talks, past talks, scripture study guides, etc. and I can run through different exercise routines on my own so hopefully... one day, I'll be able to cook without the recipe book and the measuring cup.

I did manage to make some salmon that was pretty aesthetically pleasing AND taste bud-riffic! Beginner's luck.



They say the way to a man's heart is through his stomach... I sure hope Andy is the exception! At least until I learn how to cook more!