Day 11: Can cooksville, baby doll!

I still remember my 6th grade English teacher talking about optimism. She said the world could be divided into 3 categories of people, the "Can"s, the "Can't"s and the "Won't"s and we then had to identify which category we most identified with. I mean no offence to her but I think this is more of a spectrum and I change from one category to another depending on the situation. When it comes to the kitchen, I'm definitely a "Won't" that often confuses herself to be a "Can't".

When asked if I can cook, I often reply with can't but I can. I can but I chose not to so it's more of a "won't" problem. I've always prided myself on having a long list of things I'd rather do than be in the kitchen. Being blessed with having two amazing culinary masters as parents whose main objective in life is to ensure you are well-fed and never go hungry, I was spoilt. I never really had to cook for myself unless I wanted to surprise the family with one of my innovative creations and on those occasions, my sister would do majority of the cooking anyways.... Living away from home didn't help either because as luck would have it, I had the most awesome flatmates in the world who all enjoyed cooking and feeding their take-out buying/noodle-heating/cereal-is-perfectly-good-dinner-option-eating flatmate. I was exposed to delectable cooking from all over the world which broadened my palette and at the same time weakened my enthusiasm to cook. I remember one day I decided to reciprocate the kindness showered by my roommate and offered to cook her eggs for dinner which I eventually ended up burning because I forgot step 1 of making an omelette - greasing the pan! We all decided that to safeguard everyone's safety, sanity and health, it was best if I did not attempt cooking. My "won't"'s determination grew stronger.

However, after I've come back, I've really gotten more interested in cooking and have attempted to upskill my cooking skills from boiling cup noodles to stirring up a 3-course meal. As my friend Matt said, if I can't find a job, I may as well get domesticated ;). I've started cooking a lot more than often (at least once a week) which is indeed a lot more than often! I think one of my methods to overcome my reverse culture shock was to bring back Europe to Auckland. I couldn't travel to Spain for a tortilla espanola or Poland for some pirogues. I couldn't make Pierre make me crepes or make a hefty deposit to the generous layer of flab I accumulated in Europe by eating Zizi's fritule but I could recreate it an recreate I did. My cooking adventures started with following their recipes, which as my friend Pierre said, "were so easy that even Rucha could do it". The positive feedback I received from my 3 guinea pigs at home encouraged me to cook more. The won't/can't started changing to can.

So as a part of my Newember challenge, I decided to dedicate a day to cooking, to expanding my gastronomic talents, to positively changing my won't to a can and man, did it feel good. Cooking can be therapeutic. Cooking can expand your creativity and innovation. The opportunities to experiment, to create, to stir up a storm are boundless! At first I always thought cooking was a drag, my parents and relatives always remind of my words of wisdom at the age of 13 where I blatantly stated that cooking was not my thing, "My mission in life is to find myself a husband who is a chef or one who can afford a chef". Although I still wouldn't mind either of the scenarios, I really won't mind doing some cooking too.

There is a quote from Julia Child along the lines of "“The only real stumbling block is fear of failure. In cooking you've got to have a what-the-hell attitude.” With a whole lot of what-the-hell attitude, 4 open tabs on Google chrome of different recipe websites,3-4 main ingredients, I ended up creating a completely innovative 2-course meal with my assistant chef and perpetual partner-in-crime, Urooza. I never thought I had that in me! That's what being a "won't" does, it blocks out any opportunity for "can" to discover and flourish. In this case I'm glad my "can" was stronger than my "won't". Cooking can be fun! Bring on Singapore and new flatmates, this time I'll be the one doing the cooking! :)