Before I share my 5 beliefs on food and cooking here is a quick background about me and my family.

I only learned how to cook at the age of 28. This was the time when I moved to Singapore and it was just me and Mae in the house as newlyweds. Our regular meals were just pre-packaged salad, from the grocery store and chicken breast with some orange. I overcooked the chicken often.

According to Mae, the worst kitchen meal I made was when I used excess parsley (lots of it) and added it to scrambled eggs. It tasted awful.

5-7 years later I now probably have a few hundreds of I can confidently cook with or without a recipe. I cook our regular weekday meals, and also prepare more special meals like paella, ribs, or roasts, when we have friends over during the weekends.

This journey so far have made me form these beliefs:

  1. Food is multifunctional. It is nourishment, a source of comfort, and a love language. Given this:
    • Weekday and regular meals should be healthy and balanced, more than comforting. There should always be a supply of snacks or desserts for each person to eat depending on their stress level.
    • Special meals for special occasions or to be enjoyed with friends should be delicious more than healthy. Serve what they like as it is a chance to communicate love.
  2. Food and any ingredients must not be wasted as much as possible. Waste is defined as:
    • Discarding food and other ingredients because you have no use for it, or do not know how to use it.
    • Having to throw out food and ingredients because it reached its expiry date or spoiled.
    • Eating food simply not because you want it, but just because you don’t want it to go bad (over preparation).
  3. Cooking must be done efficiently.
    • Clean as you prep and cook. This way you can enjoy your food knowing there are less pots and pans that need cleaning after dinner.
    • Balance bulk preparation and cooking with variety. This is the beauty of meal sequences.
  4. Savor food to its fullest as much as you can, whatever it is you are eating.
    • You cannot take a ‘photograph’ of what you ate, your tongue will taste the flavors again.
    • The circumstance by which you eat food is always different. Drinking coke after an hour walk under the soon will taste differently than coke enjoyed with friends, and will taste differently than because you just need to finish the can. So even if it is the same food, it is always a different moment to be savored.
  5. Learning how to cook for yourself and others is a gateway to happiness.
    • You’ll enjoy food that you cook for yourself and others cook for you more.
    • You’ll also learn how to think of what others like and dislike even if it is not the same as yours.

Having said all these, my ‘food’ blog is different in 2 ways

  • I intentionally do not share my own recipes.
    • This way readers can become more confident of cooking without following recipes and trusting their tastebuds.
    • Additionally, adhering to a recipe too much can cause a lot of waste in the kitchen. It starts when you buy an ingredient just for that dish, and you don’t know another dish where you can use it.
    • I also do not have fixed recipes. Every dish will be slightly different because I try to use whatever is in the pantry.
  • Instead, I share meal sequences and combos rather than recipes. Meal sequences also allow you to see the interconnectedness of different dishes. It makes you a more resourceful (and confident) person in the kitchen.

Right now, my bucket list / dream list when it comes to food skills are:

  1. Get better on flavor. I want to attend a class that is focused on how to build and balance flavor. This way I will have a more ‘formal’ framework by which I can be inventive in the kitchen.
  2. Get better on plating and presentation.

And that’s it. I’ll probably update this post in 5-10 years when my beliefs on food and cooking have evolved. I hope this gives you a background on why I write the way I write about food!