To cook or not to cook

When I was younger, I cooked a lot, so much so that I considered myself as a good cook. My family loved my pasta dishes (especially those with eggplant in it... I know, my favorite and I just could not resist...), my pork adobo (especially that one with the sweet and spicy twist) and my beef caldereta (which I cook with cheese).

Since I had to stay in a dorm all throughout my college and post graduate days, I could only cook in the summer and Christmas vacations.

Sometime between my graduating and deciding to marry, I totally stopped. In fact, the Big Boy does not believe that I can cook. I cannot blame him though, because he does not like pasta and eggplant, he has his own version of adobo which is anything but sweet and spicy (but very tasty I must admit) and his caldereta is calderatang 'kambing' (goat) which I found eew at the start, but later had to admit that yeah it's good. In short, there was no chance and no need for me to cook for him or when he was around.

And then there was a time when I tried to cook kid's spaghetti for my little boy, but which he refused to eat.

So there went my confidence crumbling in the kitchen. Besides, our manang cooks all the time, and there's a hundred and one restaurants in BF Homes waiting to be discovered.

There were also some attempts in between, like when I last tried to cook beef caldereta, it was already too late when I realized that I bought the wrong beef cut, well at least not the cut which I wanted. Also, the last time I tried to revive my special pork adobo, I forgot that I never put onions in my adobo, but it was to late to salvage the onions from the pan.

But some things happen for a reason...

Early this week, our manang went on an emergency vacation. My initial plan was to subsist on the fiesta ham slices, hotdog and baby back ribs in the freezer which we can easily fry away and then either eat out or call delivery.

Yesterday, I came home early, and my little boy asked me to cook spaghetti. I said no we just order. I guess he did not hear me because he started laying down the pasta, spaghetti sauce and hotdog on the table. So, ok, I realized I will give it another try.

Since it was still early, and my little boy was willing to wait, I got to focus. I even put some ground meat which I cooked the way I remember doing it back when those were the days...

The result...


...was a success, because my little boy ate 2 servings. I had to stop him because his tummy looked like they were about to burst.

I think the big boy ate some too, because when I woke up, there was no more pasta left...

This is definitely a turning point in my life. I vow to seriously cook again.

Y