Lasang Pinoy 8 : Creative cookery with children




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I grew up in a family where food and cooking were significant aspects of daily life. My grandparents had a grocery store (that specialized in cured meat) in Quiapo during the post WW II years and that was how they began to make their small fortune. They were both terrific cooks and I don’t remember badly cooked food in their house which was next to ours. They weren’t believers in canned goods–everything was fresh. Marketing was done every other day and meat, seafood and vegetables were bought and cooked fresh.

I grew up in a compound in Caloocan—a large lot with four houses—ours, my grandparents’ and my grandmother’s siblings’. The lot was owned by my great-great-grandmother who divided it among her children. When the siblings eventually bought houses elsewhere, my grandparents bought their shares of the lot. Eventually, there was only my grandparents’ house and ours—my father had bought a parcel from my great-great-grandmother years before. With only two houses left, there was a lot of vacant space—land where my grandparents planted fruit trees and vegetables.

It was on those grounds where most of the old-style outdoor cooking was done. My grandmother’s siblings, and their families, would come over for Christmas and the preparations would begin days ahead. My brother and I would watch the grinding of tinapa and chicharon for the pancit luglog, see the ube halaya cooked in a large carajay over live coals… We would pick and taste and we were never told to scram and get lost, or made to feel like we were a nuisance when the adults were cooking. We were welcome to watch and learn. My brother didn’t turn out to be a foodie, but me? Oh, learn I did. And how!

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Comments

13 Responses to “Lasang Pinoy 8 : Creative cookery with children”

  1. relly on April 6th, 2006 3:27 am

    :wink: interesting sassy i was born in Caloocan.

  2. noemi on April 6th, 2006 6:32 am

    First of all I sympathize with your sprain. I’m glad you didn’t break your leg. I fractured my leg 8 months ago and was disabled for many months (I plan to write about it one day). I have now 8 screws in my leg and ankle. Ouch.

    Secondly, It’s a mother’s pride when we impart to our children creative ways of cooking or any crafts for that matter. I am not much of a cook but the girls learned to cook by experimenting. They just ask my advise about cooking techniques. It’s a great way of bonding. The kids were most curious during their early teens. I always tell them to come up with their own recipe even if modified from somewhere. In my case, my forte is baking and crafts and inspite of the internet technology, they still dabble with these crafts and their other talents.

  3. Connie on April 6th, 2006 11:59 am

    you were, relly? wow, you lived there long?

    noemi, oohhh it feels to great to share things like these with moms. my kids love crafts too. they even had this mini pottery maker. but they especially love creating models–helicopters, cars… even a full human skeleton. and they draw. my younger girl even had some of her drawings on TV (Nickelodeon). Gee, the things I can talk about when I don’t talk about politics. :wink: Really need to get mommytalks.com going. A day, I still need a day. :)

  4. noemi on April 6th, 2006 12:42 pm

    Connie: I am looking forward to mommytalks.com. Just holler when ready.

  5. iska on April 6th, 2006 6:47 pm

    a very enlightening article connie. your kids sound so wonderful w/ cooking… may pinagmanahan! i am glad you joined and thank you for bringing a new dimension to LP with the column as your entry…

  6. Candice on April 6th, 2006 9:08 pm

    I envy your ability to cook and the way cooking has become occasions for bonding and creativity for your family. Growing up, food has been left to the care of cooks—or to restaraurants.

    Now with my own family, I hope out kitchen can eventually be a place where we can gather and be nourished together. There’s nothing like home-cooked meals, and I’m sure that quality time in the kitchen must be very rewarding.

    How you must be so organzed to run a household, cook meals and work at the same time! I’m a work-at-mom too to a 5-month old baby, and I can barely find time to clean house, much less spend time over the stove. Thank goodness my husband has shown a newfound interest in cooking. :)

  7. Connie on April 7th, 2006 8:34 pm

    i will, noemi. :)

    salamat iska. a toast to pinoy food blogs! :)

    candice, i am not that organized. LOL i wish i were. apart from the hard drive of my laptop, the kitchen must be the only organized place in the house. even scheduling can go crazy. sometimes, everyone wakes up at 10 a.m. and we have breakfast at 11, lunch at 3… :razz:

  8. lani on April 9th, 2006 8:12 pm

    I also want to have a big kitchen :oops:

    You’re right, our son also express his creativity in the kitchen. He garnishes the food and arrange it beautifully in the plate before serving it.

  9. Connie on April 10th, 2006 4:54 pm

    lani, plan the kitchen heheheh ours isn’t that big but a huge improvement from the one we had before.

    kudos to your son. maybe he’ll be a chef someday. :)

  10. miss_mozaik on August 28th, 2006 7:00 pm

    :roll:
    I’ve always been interested in cooking and I find my style very authentic because it seems I have the feeling to perfectly match every details of elements according to taste, smell and kind.

  11. miss_mozaik on August 28th, 2006 7:02 pm

    I also think that many of da gurlz here posted their very stoooooopid silly ideas categorized to THE MOST LOST LEVEL OF THE HUMAN SOCIETY…

  12. Connie on August 29th, 2006 12:30 pm

    Hello miss_mozaik, yeah, i read your 2 comments and I understand what you mean about stupid silly ideas. You’re living proof.

  13. ISKAndals.com » LP8: The Round-Up! on May 23rd, 2007 10:44 pm

    [...] Sassy Connie thought of doing her own mini round-up presenting her kids’ kitchen experiments but decided against it the last minute. What is the Pinoycook cooking up this time? Get yourself this Thursday’s issue of Manila Standard when Lasang Pinoy goes to print! [...]

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