Whether it is a family gathering or a quick pick-up-and-go meal, food plays a huge role in my everyday life. For me, food is a big part of any holiday experience. I’m always curious to try new ingredients or dishes.
This means that eating (local) dishes specific to a country, region, or city is a little bit like traveling. So cooking is for me a little bit like the closet leading to Narnia.
I love cooking because it is like traveling around the world without leaving your kitchen.
I started cooking after college when I was living in my first apartment. I still remember the first thing that I ever cooked – it was a duck breast. It was so different from what I was used to eating, that it awoke my passion for cooking. Back then I couldn’t afford to eat out, so I started cooking expensive dishes from ingredients I got from my mom.
I have eclectic tastes so I enjoy all types of cuisine, from traditional Romanian to exotic Asian dishes, and everywhere in between. The one thing I never tried is classic French cooking. I also enjoy making Asian-inspired noodles because they are quick to make and I always have the ingredients lying around.
Cooking takes patience and some basic notions. Having those takes time. But having a well-written recipe should make it easier. I enjoy losing myself in the rituals of chopping, stirring and tasting. Cooking is often a pause from the rush of daily life. It’s a holiday in Greece or Thailand.
I have a lot of cooking books and I watched a lot of cooking shows. That’s how I got to the point where I can improvise with the ingredients at my disposal. I enjoy baking bread or cooking in the oven but I must say that my wife is the better baker.
Explore and share different cultures from the comfort of your kitchen!
Learning how to cook is easy. My advice would be to begin with simple video recipes. Then get a good pan. The possibilities are endless. You can use your imagination and creativity, play with the ingredients and innovate. You improve yourself more by making mistakes the first time and correcting yourself the next time. It’s a never-ending learning process.