About cooking

I started cooking for myself (and for surviving) when I went to graduate school. Away from home and faced with so many unknown ingredients, the first few months cooking alone and on my own were not a pretty sight. Burned pots, spillage here and there, items either overcooked or undercooked, never just right. It didn't take me a long time before I went to get myself a recipe book about one-pot cooking, soups and stews.

I like the idea of stews and soups a lot, even way before I knew how to cook a proper one. It brings me such a pleasure to see different ingredients sit snugly in a pot, with liquid, simmering away on a stove. When all individual flavors have all come together in harmony and your kitchen permeates with a comforting smell, it's time to enjoy. Unlike baking, you don't have to very precise about the recipes, as most ingredients are interchangeable, depending on the availability, preference and the mood at the time. The real hard work is to wait patiently while the alchemy takes place, in its own time.

As a working woman, stews and soups are great time savers. They are something you could easily and relaxedly prepare, say, in one weekend afternoon. The final product can rest quietly in the fridge until called upon. The time you spend preparing and cooking them guarantees to bring you a lot more rewards in return, as their flavor develops and deepens steadily with time. On any weekday evening after a long hard day of work, dinner can be ready in 20 minutes. Once you take the first spoonful of the humble medley, you realize that stew and soup are like two generous friends. They ask little in return and never let you down.