Mi Familia

Most of us, when finally leaving the nest, have a chance to branch out into food realms never explored before; determined to try the food our parents didn't have the time or knack to prepare. Not me though, when I was a kid eating out was a luxury that we afforded only once and a while, (might also have something to do with getting 4 kids organized for a meal out somewhere cannot be an easy task) but also my mother has wonderful cooking skills coupled with the creativity that can only be gathered by years of stretching a thin budget. So, when I finally had my own food freedom I went straight for the things I had been denied all this time: Pizza, Chinese take-out, Indian Buffets, Wendy's Midnight Drive-Thru, no, it was not a very proud few years for me but it did not take long for my own inner cooking skills began to really shine through.

I spent a few years shacked up in a house with some of the best friends a girl could ask for coming out of high school. It was for all of its worth, a party haven for all who lived within the area and so there were always plenty of mouths around to feed. However, when beer is and partying is a bit more important than a high paying job, the food budget can suffer and I found myself forced into a very familiar situation when it came to the kitchen.
I know some of you might be rolling your eyes at me, comparing a pair of adults trying to make a budget and 4 kids work and a house full of able-bodied high school graduates, how hard must we have had it? The motivations may have been different, but the desperation is very similar. To top it all off, one of the house residents was diagnosed with Celiac Disease within the first year of us all living there, so there were sever food allergies to take into consideration.



I come from a Biiig, big family. Not only in waist line ( ;) ) but in numbers as well and we all love to eat. My grandmother was on "cook for an army mode" pretty much all summer long as the families full of grand kids sped in between the house and the lake; cooking for a crowd was nothing new for me. What to cook was the bigger, more important answer, the regular cheap food staples were out, Ichiban, Kraft Dinner (MacnCheese for all you non western Canadians out there) and most pre-packaged foods all were contaminated with some form of gluten or another. In my own repertoire of dishes I knew how to cook and from my mom and the English side of my family I had all your normal British style cooking: Beef Stew with Curried Dumplings (dumplings that I still cannot get right, to this day.) Yorkshire Puddings along with a full out roast meal, Poached eggs, Hamburgers and fries, Spaghetti. All of these were really quite easy to adapt to suit our dietary and monetary needs.

I want to state for the record that I don't have a bad thing to say about English style food, but when it's all you know for about 10 years of your life, you welcome just about any spicy change. When my mom asked her boyfriend to move in with us when I was about 11 there were big changes in what choices we had for supper. My Step-father 's family is from Trinidad which is located in The Caribbean(I stand corrected) giving us a whole new world of food to explore. So I also prepared a lot of Burritos, Fajitas, Paella, Tabbouleh, Baklava and Chicken Roti.

Truly those years cooking in the kitchen of our big house for all my friends is where the bud of passionate food making finally blossomed. I did not want to make a career of out it, but I loved it as strongly as any head chef and I still jump at any chance to feed guests. I am very thankful for the base of knowledge and ability that my family gave to me to get this far, the hungry mouths of drunken friends are pretty thankful as well. My grandmother taught me not to be so worried about the details in the kitchen, if you food tastes great then the looks and preparation work all usually comes out in the wash at the end. This is a lesson that I still hold dear as I try to hone my skills, I never want my cooking and baking to become a chore; my grandmothers wisdom will forever be my patience in the kitchen. I have been watching my mom cook for as long as I could remember and she never hid it from me, or discouraged me from the kitchen. It was like a free 20 year apprenticeship under the master chef of my own childhood comfort foods: Lasagna, Mashed Potatoes, Beef Stronganoff. My Stepfather opened my eyes to all new things I never even heard of before on my plate, Guacamole, Saffron, and Italian Sausage; but more importantly this instilled in me a comfort in trying new things like chili powder in chocolate cupcakes (mole sauce anyone?) or deep fried octopus. This ability has done me plenty of favors in my life because its given me courage to branch out into bold and strange new flavors and tastes.

I hope that I can do justice to all the great dishes I have learned over the years and that my broad taste horizons come through in my entries.

I promise more posts this week, as you can see, I have been busy with gimp, and templates. =)