We've been working hard over the last year to make meals more interesting...I used to cook a reasonable amount, but when I was single and living alone, my cullinary skills deteriorated to opening boxes from Sainsbury's. With the boy around creating something has become a challenge. The boy himself has always enjoyed being in the kitchen...and encouraged by his mum he used to rustle up pizza from raw ingredients, could bake a cake and probably if pushed boil an egg.
I can't remember whether Grandma in Cyprus ever tried to pass on her culinary skills to either of her offspring, but I do remember her keeping herself busy in the kitchen. I do recall the odd Vesta meal...which were all the rage in the new age of pre-prepared meals. They were indeed odd. I also remember that she would occasionally serve tinned ravioli to her two boys. In those days...or maybe it was just her way of doing things...the trick was to warm the tin gently in a saucepan of boiling water. One day she got distracted, leaving the saucpean to boil dry - redecorating the entire kitchen with Heinz sauce, pasta and meat. In the interests of getting fed the next time we head off to Cyprus, I will point out that Grandma in Cyprus now serves delicious, fresh, beautifully prepared meals.
the boy's repertoir is now heading towards student meal fodder....beans on toast and so on. But he has developed an enviable ability to cook a mean stir fry. His technique seems to be to empty everything from the cupboard into the frying pan, but the end result is always delicious. But it does take me a couple hours to clear up after him.....(perhaps he's learnt the GinC ravioli technique)
Last week we bought everything he needed for chilli con carne, and in an overt demonstration of 'I have complete faith in you' I left him to it. I should mention that unlike most men he has the ability to multi-task...so whilst cooking he was also chatting to his girlriend on the phone. 40 minutes later I was summoned for supper. There was one missing ingredient. Rice. Completely abandoned. So the water was put on and 20 minutes later I was summoned. Fabulous. But one other missing ingredient. Chilli. So we had a delicious meal of chilli con carne sans chilli.
As they say, practice makes perfect.
That's the reason you can never go wrong with a stir-fry!
ReplyDeleteI'm glad he's learning to cook. His girlfriends/wife will always be grateful. My husband blames his mother for never teaching him when he was at home and so now he can just about boil an egg if forced. Anything else tastes pretty revolting.
ReplyDeleteDon't knock it, it's a good start. As for the food reminicing, can you remember when Artic Roll was a real treat ?
ReplyDeleteSounds perfect. I am looking forward to tasting R's cooking experiments when she's older (so far, they amount to biscuit and milk soup and noodles in juice!). And I never put chilli in my chilli - oregano and cumin are fine and give it the authentic taste without taking the roof off my mouth (I am a wuss when it comes to hot food, though).
ReplyDeleteWow, they are so sophisticated these days. Porridge was about my limit until I was 30!
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