Our holiday to Turkey was the turning point for my cooking adventure. It was our longest holiday and we did not prepare Umar well for the holiday with regards to eating. We had not introduced him to instant cereals or canned food because basically, I do not trust the labels on it, even though, it states organic or no preservatives. Marketeers are good at their job.
Usually, all his meals are lovingly prepared by the grandma. After a couple of failed attempts, I had put my dreams to be an excellent chef at the back seat. Simply because I am a horrible cook. While we were holidaying in Turkey, all he ate were fruits, plain pasta and flavored Turkish rice with occasionally with bits of meat or chicken (if I am lucky). We had planned to cook while in Turkey and had even brought along a small portable electric stove. But, he did not really fancy my cooking. His meals were not really taken care of, so much so that he fell terribly sick the last 3 days we were in Istanbul. We had no choice but to call an ambulance to drive him to a hospital. That was definitely the final straw and I promised myself to learn to cook. I scheduled cooking tutorials with my mom on weekends to get an idea of simple cooking techniques. 😛
It was not as difficult as I made it out to be. All I needed was someone to show me and I was able to do it on my own after 2-3 “lessons”. Besides, my mom will not live forever. Should my mom be gone tomorrow, who will take care of my children’s meals, if not myself.
I am grateful that Umar, despite being a picky eater, does not reject fruits and eats his vegetables ever so willingly. His favorite meals do not need extensive or complicated ingredients. Cooking for him just needs effort and a lot of determination and perseverance. (The aftermath of cooking is still NOT funny.)
I will try to archive all successful recipes here so I can refer to it periodically. Successful in my dictionary would mean he does not show signs of puking and willingly eats more than 3 spoonful. 😛