Sending out my first blog entry for my food and entertaining Blog: My experience with cooking I was never allowed to cook in my moms kitchen as she was very picky and did not want a mess. I had to hide or wait until she goes out to experiment with cooking. When I was younger I remember waiting for my parents to go out and my kala’s and I would rush to the kitchen and make aaloo champ(potato patties). However I always found a way to find my way in my mom’s kitchen to cook. Although I come from a Mauritian Indian background, my first experience with cooking was making Italian food. Minestrone soup, linguini with red sauce and garlic bread. Back in the days when most of my uncles were alive, we use to have dinners, and they would come over with their wives and my small cousin once in while for dinner. I remember we had them for dinner once, and they were all in the back yard and I made my Italian feast. It was such a great feeling to cook for your uncles. However times have changed and people change, and as families get bigger they grow apart. We cannot bring back those good old days, its only memories that are left. Then I met my husband in Canada. He was from Mauritius. When we were engaged, he use to cook a dry octopus curry Mauritian style garnished with chopped coriander and sliced thai chillies, he also made min bouille(Chinese noodles) , and he brought me often to the Mauritian restaurant while we were courting. They had an array of foods, like chicken cutlet, Chinese noodles, fired rice, tomato chutney, kidney bean soup. I saw a different twist in Mauritian cuisine. Once we were married, he introduced me to lentils, bouillon cresson(crescent soup), and vegetables. I hated lentils, however when my husband makes lentil soup, or lentils with meat , I would actually lick the bowl. I have had lentils with meat before, and even recently at a family event, however noting beats my husband’s lentils with meat. It’s full of intense flavours. He serves it with tomato chutney, and coconut chutney and sometimes with grated cucumbers and sliced green chillies. You can have it as gravy with white rice or as a thick stew with crusty baguette. Although my mom made Mauritian food once in a while, vegetables, lentils, salt fish, I never really had a liking for it, until I met my husband. So since my husband was Mauritian and I was British/Canadian comfortable with cooking Italian, Canadian, Middle Eastern, Thai and Pakistani food, it was a great melting pot. I had to quickly learn and my first experience was trying to remember the Mauritian items my mom use to cook, and my first book that I used was called “ Mauritian delight”. Then I started incorporating my ideas and changed up the recipes to our liking. I started getting hooked to the food network, it was not only addictive, however was quite expensive. I just had to make everything that inspired me. Thank god I don’t have the food network anymore. Now I am a working mom of three, I have an older daughter in her pre-teens and twin boy and girl who are now 6 years old, I just love to cook for them and my husband. They are my main food critics. I enjoy when they are satisfied, or they ask what’s for dinner today mom, or “this was one of your best ones today mom”, It’s such a rewarding warm feeling. Food and entertaining inspires people, it brings people together, a smile in their faces, and warmth to their hearts. I just love entertaining, however don’t have time to entertain and have people over as often as I like. Since I cannot have all of you over for dinner, I started sharing my entertaining, food and ideas since I joined facebook back in 2006. This led me to sending recipes on my different email distribution list through my Gmail. Thanks to my friends , who have pushed me into separating the food and entertaining into another email distribution list. I am still working on my website and blog and have been a bit busy and a tad lazy to finish it off. However for now I am comfortable using Gmail and facebook to network, and it has been working so far.. Most of my recipes that are not vegetarian can be substituted with a vegetable or tofu. I will be introducing some new dishes , ideas, and healthier versions during the Month of Ramadan just like last year, so please stay tuned. I will try to update the food email distribution list weekly.
Posted on: Thu, 27 Jun 2013 03:18:33 +0000
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