The other day my mother phoned me to ask me if she could use quinoa flakes to make a dish that clearly required just the plain old quinoa grain. I was thrilled, it was a personal victory. My mother is a brilliant cook. She can outcook any member of my family by a kilogram of potatoes. Except me.
When she fumbled about the quinoa I knew I had her. My mum can roast the flavor into any meal, she can turn out the perfect scone and her pasta is sublime. But she kind of got stuck when she realised how good she was. It wasn’t like her skills deteriorated or that she could no longer whip up her famous culinary delights it was just that she never ventured away from them. Quinoa was never something she cooked with so it never made its way into her repertoire.
When my mother makes a salad it’s tasty and delicious but it generally doesn’t venture far from lettuce, carrots, tomato and cucumber. And even with the most spectacular dressing it is still lettuce, carrots, tomato and cucumber. When I make a salad I also use lettuce but I add nuts or roast vegetables, or both. I put in seeds and quinoa, I even make a salad that has caramel popcorn in it. It’s amazing.
Top Comments
I'm a better cook than my Mum, because she doesn't like cooking or baking, never has. She did it because she had to. Our meals as kids were things like pie and chips, sausages/mashed potato/boiled vegetables, shepherd's pie, fish fingers etc. I probably made life very hard for her as I was a picky child, couldn't stand soft textured food. I'd hide the boiled vegies in my pockets, gag on the mashed potato, etc.
At uni I discovered the existence of stir fries, and was overjoyed. Crunchy vegies! I went home and cooked it for my parents, and they liked it too. This is the only new recipe my Mum learnt and cooks.
When I go home for visits I try and cook them a new recipe, but they're never interested in learning anything else. Mum and Dad are content eating the same things. Depending on which day of the week it is, I can predict what they'll be having for dinner, lol.
Of course my kids are picky too, and my Mum finds a lot of delight in this. ;-)
I'd say my mother and I are pretty even, while she can feed a family and has her list of staples that hardly ever fail, I'm certainly more adventurous, but can still end up in the trash.
http://boughtbybirdette.blo...