The Thursday Dish. My Thursday Dish.
I've been wanting to learn how to cook since forever. I wanted to be the kind of woman who can, the woman who has her own style of cooking, and the kind of woman who'd rather do it than ask someone else to do it.
I fairly think I was born in that generation of kids who never got to learn how to cook--those kids who never got to buy fresh ingredients in the wet market, and those kids who spent a good time reading, playing, or learning things on the Internet, rather than helping cook at home.
I mean, don't get me wrong. I do help out at home when my parents are cooking. I help them prepare the onion, the ginger, the garlic. I sometimes slice the carrots for them and even wash the vegetables for them. But the cooking in action, that's their turf. (Cos mom and dad cook very well!!! That's me just letting them make good use of their skills. HAHAHA)
But there was a phase back in college, when I really wanted to learn how to cook. I told myself that I would need it when I get married. So I asked dad if I could be his assistant. And he agreed. :) So every Saturday and Sunday, I'd help him cook. He'd tell me what to do and how much to prepare and then we'd place the ingredients in separate saucers, he'd line them up in order of use and then he'd instruct me what to do next. So basically, I could claim that all those were my cooking, except they really weren't (sort of). So fine, during that phase, I got to cook: chicken pork adobo, kare-kare, buto-buto, sinigang, bulalo, tinola, maya-maya and afritada. Very Filipino.
I also asked my tito, who also cooks very well, to teach me to cook seafood pasta, as that was my favorite. So I learned it and served it once in a gathering with friends.
After a while, I realized that I wasn't gonna get married anytime soon, so my cooking addiction soon ended. (HAHAHA)
DO NOT GET ME WRONG. Me cooking now still in now way relates to marriage. So spare the thought. I don't even have a boyfriend. Hahaha!
For almost a year I've been saying this. On my 22nd and a half birthday (1 year and 3 months ago), I even committed to re-learn this. That was my TTD #2. (See post here: http://jeldirecto.tumblr.com/post/22118035434/as-most-of-you-do-not-know-ive-turned-22-5)
And for weeks, I've been saying that a lot. I wanna cook again. I wanna do it not for the sake of trying or learning but I want it to be a part of my life, cooking for the family in certain days of the week.
I told this in the office and my officemate was like, "Bakit di ka nalang mag luto ng pasta? Aralin mo yung mga iba ibang pasta." Instantly, I went like, "Pasta?? Pan-chick lang yan eh. 'Heyyy I prepared pasta for you guysss. Taste ittttt!' And I've tried that already before. I don't think my future kids can live eating pasta everyday. I wanna learn how to cook the mommy-style cooking. As in Pinoy ulam."
And somehow, the idea of my parents not touching the kitchen, because they knew that day would be my cooking day, made me feel super excited. I even thought that maybe they'd go like "Buti nalang Thursday bukas, hindi ako magluluto. Si Angel na bahala diyan." Hahaha! Ka-kilig.
And after finally getting my senses together and urging myself to visit the grocery to buy all the ingredients I would need for my dish, I got my very first.
Fish fillet in sweet and sour sauce.
--
It was so funny. As I was buying the ingredients, I was like "Do we have brown sugar at home? Okay, maybe we don't. Let's buy it all." "Do we have enough garlic at home? Okay, maybe we don't. Let's buy it all." So I ended up buying a pack of everything I needed. Good job for not knowing what's in the kitchen, Angel. :))
I got home and was welcomed by the nice smell of the kitchen. My dad was already cooking chicken pork adobo. I suddenly felt discouraged to prepare food which was supposed to be a surprise. I sat on the couch and told dad "I'm supposed to cook today! I planned to cook every Thursday. Like Wednesday night for Thursday baon or Thursday itself." :(
"O, e anong problema. Edi sabayan mo yung niluluto ko." "Talaga??? Pwede?? YAY!"
So I rushed to the kitchen at 10:20 PM and cooked my first. :)
I don't know if they actually ate it (like they didn't puke it out--I think I will never know LOL) or if they actually liked it. But it doesn't matter. I'm so happy I got to finally do it and I can see myself doing this regularly. :)
I'm so high I feel like a woman. ;) <3