Hi guys!!! Well, since my introduction post doesn't really reveal much about me and the reasons i've decided to share my experiences with you (nice job i've done on that :) ), let me take this opportunity and explain a bit further :)....
Since i can remember, food has always been the thing that connected me to my otherwise tipically disfunctional family....Hanging out in my grandma's pretty basic, old school kitchen when i was a kid, watching her whip up an amazing meal like it was nothing.....efortlesly...And the smell...
» Ohhh man, why do grandmas' kitchens always smell the best???!! «
..just writing about this makes me hungry.....
Anyway, that's how my life long passion for cooking started... Off course i didn't realize it at the time, i just wanted to sit on the countertop and lick the spoons :)!
My mom and dad were both excellent cooks, completly different approaches to cooking though, which started many quite colorful disputes at the dinner table. As i said, your typically disfunctional familly...
But till this day, there was nothing, nothing in the world, that tasted better than that ultimate favourite childhood dish made by mom or dad...well, one of each...i always refused to take sides on who's dish was better on purpose, which painted their arguments at the dinner table a nice rainbow color and i could sneak out.....
Those homecooked favourites still feel like a warm blanket, amazingly satisfying, the holy grail of my student years, something that could never be copied, no matter how much i tried..You know that feeling??Trying to replicate that one special dish...? I mean, it's not like i was a rookie in the kitchen...
»I got this mom, no, i dont need the recipe, it's pretty simple«.
...After a few tries, a phonecall:
»Mom, the recipe, please?..
And then a slightly annoyed phonecall:
»Mom, are you sure this is the right one????«
The dish was always missing just that little something.....A secret ingredient i couldn't identify...It just wasn't quite right...
Feelings that we connect to food, are one of the strongest building blocks of our memories, because they involve all the sences....
And that's what was missing...Her time, her laughing seing me stuff myself, the smell of the kitchen and her love for me translated into a simple dish....And it's food prepared with love, no matter how simple or complicated, that is the ultimate expression of appreciation and affection for another person.
Having my own family now, I often find myself rushing through life, like we all do...Long hours at work, early mornings, trying to squeeze 36 hours into a 24 hour day, imagining I actually have free time and spend it willingly at the gym.(that just made me laugh so hard::)))....And then comes that magical sunday morning.....Super messy hair and we don't care mood, PJs and her favourite breakfast...
As i sit across the dinning table and look at her face when she takes a bite, i can't help but smile, because I know this will be her ultimate waffle for life, a simple plate of food with that secret ingredient that she'll never be able to copy....
So please people, if you love someone, don't go buying teddy bears, gifts and flowers for god's sake!!! Make some waffles instead.... ;)