RoobiFood

My earliest memories of food are centered around my father.  He taught me to make lots of things from scratch, never offering a recipe, instead guiding me to navigate the ingredients and flavor combinations armed only with my senses and instinct. These lessons often created friction in my childhood home. I’ll never forget the time my mother walked in on a pasta lesson. Dad and I were up to our elbows in flour, ribbons of fresh fettuccine were everywhere, and her newly clean floor had a fine smattering of glutinous residue on it. I swear we experienced a father-daughter-foodie bond after that day because of the goop on the floor alone!

After I married my high school sweetheart in 1991, cooking became more utilitarian and perfunctory in nature-we both had full-time jobs, and wanted to eat as cheaply and efficiently as possible. I learned how to adhere to a recipe that offered the best value. Part of my new habit was to cut ingredient amounts way down to effectively shop for only two diners instead of making a huge batch of whatever was on my mind, regardless of cost, and eating it till it was all gone, like in my single days. I was on a mission, and my mission was to stretch our food dollar till it squealed!

Shortly after the birth of my daughter Olivia in 1997, we decided to homeschool her.  When she began to eat solids, she displayed a very discriminating palate, eschewing the usual baby fare of the strained and mushed up variety found in jars, opting instead for things like raw tomatoes and hummus. We took baby steps into the kitchen each day, always inviting Olivia to take part in the process of turning ingredients into meals.

Today I am happily back where I belong-I have found the happy medium between being frugal and lavish in my cooking. My experiences as a daughter, wife, and mom have shaped my perceptions of food, and how to prepare it. These days I’m much more likely to sense my way through our culinary desires as a family than to stick to a set recipe rotation. I try to offer things both healthy and delicious. Cooking, and food in general, has become fun and adventurous for me again, and I’m sure Dad would approve.

Antonia // Other posts by Antonia

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This entry was posted on Sunday, May 3rd, 2009 at 7:03 pm and is filed under News. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.