kitchen exercises

watching my grandma in the kitchen used to be a source of delight so it was not surprising that learning how to cook became a fascination for me. in my teens, it evolved into a chore. when i got married it somehow became an asset especially if one was to be judged by what one can do around the kitchen. years later, it became a therapy -- something i did to get things off my mind.

is cooking a talent or a skill, my son asked. it's either one i guess, or both.

i got exposed to kitchen work even before i entered first grade. my first duty was to remove skins from onions and garlic, by hand. i was not yet allowed to use the peeler. i would simply gawk at that little gadget, hoping to be assigned with the potatoes.

i waited patiently till grandma felt confident i was competent to handle the peeler and strip those potatoes off their skin. i remember being so excited about finally getting hold of that stainless thing that i peeled a little skin off my finger. from potatoes, other veggies followed--carrots, sayote (chayote), kalabasa (squash), labanos (raddish), gabi (taro), patola (ribbed gourd).... but all the time that i was peeling, i was eyeing the kitchen knife, studying it's movements. "soon", i told myself, "soon, you will be slicing, chopping, dicing, cubing..."

the first time grandma handed the knife to me, she watched ever so closely. over and over she cautioned me to be very careful and keep my fingers away from the blade lest i cut it. it didn't take long for the knife and i to get acquainted for i was already cutting away effortlessly. eventually, grandma would ask me to taste and stir her concoction once in a while. and i knew that anytime, it would soon be me standing in front of the fire. till then, i watched, observed and tinkered.

i cooked my first dish at nine. it was stir-fried baguio beans with ground meat, i remember quite distinctly. it was a little salty, but "impressive for a first try", my grandma commented. from then on, i was tasked to do the cooking for simple dishes which consisted mostly of fried fish and stir-fried veggies.

grandma said that if one cooks, one should also know how to buy them. she would give me pointers on how a fresh fish should look like... even smell like. leafy veggies should be bright green. carrots, onions and potatoes firm. tomatoes should be shiny, she added. my mom, on the other hand, taught me how to quarter-cut a whole chicken.

aside from the standard ingredients, as a young girl i would also create my own. i've come up with stir-fried pansit bihon with pechay, ginisang munggo with eggplant (or potatoes, whichever is available). it might sound strange, but what was stranger still was that it actually tasted okay.

i became more experimental when i became a mom and would come up with new dishes every now and then. i was not too afraid to try on new spices and will keep on stirring and mixing till i found the taste i sought. i guess one's tongue get accustomed somehow for i can duplicate a dish just by tasting.

one thing i learned, though... it isn't advisable to cook when you are unhappy for you come up with food tasting just like the way you feel. order take out. that way you wouldn't have to nurse a broken heart on an empty stomach.