very scared and intimated but I’ve asked my mom to show me how to make molé and rice from scratch I’ve been missing her cooking a lot and this will help me feel closer to her as well
It’s Chinese new year right now and while celebrating I decided to ask my grandma how to cook one of my favourite dishes from her (her rendition of steamed egg)… this combined with the fact that shes stopped cooking for about a year now and we did not eat a meal prepped by her at the table for the first time this year.
As she ages I think it’s gotten more important to learn her recipes just as something to remember her by. It’s soul food. It’s also good to learn these recipes as it really gets you connected to your culture and makes for good conversation. (Added bonus if you try to converse in your mother tongue).
My grandma would make tetrazzini for my mom when she was younger and after she made it for me, it became one of my absolute favorite meals. It’s a high effort dish for her to make for just the two of us, so I made it for her this time. :)
And the nonnas and the mamas! So much of human history is recorded in the recipes of our ancestors, who used ingredients to feed the body and nourish the soul. The stories these dishes could tell! Here I am learning how to cook Kare-Kare, a Filipino classic featuring oxtail, tripe, bok choy, green beans, and eggplant in a peanut sauce with baagoon (shrimp paste). It's unlike anything I've ever had. Masarap (delicious)! These dishes that take hours to make and feed entire families plus, these are the ones I want to keep learning, whether it's from my own lineage or others, they are the real living ancient magic.
