Finally learning to cook

So far, I've discovered I have a natural knack for making sandwiches, salads and desserts.
Main dishes, however, has its hits and misses.

Ever since Rocky and I moved to Cubao, we've both promised ourselves to dive in head first into the mysterious and exciting world of cooking. From what started out as an expedition using merely a rice cooker (thank yous to Eman and Apple for giving us their old one), we've finally progressed to getting a gas stove and learning the ropes on frying, creating soups, boiling and steaming stuff.

There was once this time in my life that I desperately wanted to learn to cook.

It all began when I caught a show on the telly one day and it was all about this thing called the Ministry of Food. Hosted by Jamie Oliver, the show focused on a group of people whom he had taught to cook a simple yet succulent omelet then challenged them to find their own pupils to teach. Watching the show, I found myself relating so much to the people who lamented on how they have survived on junk food and microwaveable dinners for most of their lives since they left their parents' homes. As Jamie showed them how easy it was to actually prepare your own delicious and healthy cuisine, I found myself deeply inspired to do the same some day and promised myself that there will come a time when I too can cook my own breakfast. Or lunch. Or dinner.

The move to Sietch Creare became a major catalyst in reaching for this elusive dream.
Having Rocky to be both supportive and a hearty devourer of both my hits and misses was a godsend.

While we searched for the flat we were to share, I shared with him my dreams of actually cooking and to my surprise, he too had such dreams. So we promised to each other that this was one joint dream we were to do and no matter how horrible our initial attempts may be, to always be supportive of the other.

From fresh salads and quirky ice cream desserts, I slowly attempted other things. One failed soup, burnt egg-in-a-basket, and a too asim bistek later, I am now officially excited to see what other things I can make and enjoy.

To my surprise, so many other friends were very supportive of our dream. Jon offered a skillet and gave us our first cookbook. Mina, Rocky's sister, offered more recipes as well. Pao at first offered an old gas stove for us to use, and until now excitedly checks on our updates on what new meal we cooked up. Then, there's Nina, Rej, Paul and other friends who have been very very supportive of each endeavor.

And true enough, as Rej had warned us, now we find ourselves looking at menus at restaurants and going, "Hmm I think we can just do this at home..." and "Oh, we have to make this... this was delicious!" rather than feeling too preoccupied with the idea of just eating out. The savings have been tremendous. The food, healthier.

Cooking is not as horrifying as I thought it would be.

So, to celebrate this new growing skill, we've compiled and will continue to update our food gallery to share with the rest of you what we've enjoyed doing and eating so far. Hopefully, someday, we even get to cook for more guests and give them a taste of our little preparations.

Cooking has been fantastic. And I only hope and pray we get more food options to try with each passing day.