My mother was a natural cook as her elder sister told me after she passed away. You can’t fake having a knack for cooking my tita said. You can learn and study for years and be good but not a natural. Mama was certainly a natural, at more than just cooking. She was a miracle worker even. She fed and raised seven healthy individuals on a very limited budget. All seven of us grew up loving our food and all learned to love to cook. It’s one thing to be able to cook and another to LOVE to cook.

I’ll always see her lovely hands cutting butter into flour for her pie crusts as I make my own pies. I’ll always make my pastel de pollo her way, with tomato sauce and not the more popular cream sauce. And I’ll forever remember her look of surprise and recognition as she tasted this same dish, my first attempt at making it for Christmas two years ago. I made an extra effort to make it exactly as she told me it was done. She gave me all her little tricks and secrets and I was not disappointed.

No matter that she was stingy in her praise, as her mother was before with her. I was toughened enough in a house full of critical siblings, to keep persisting. Ask them and I’m sure they’ll tell you I had more than my share of failures. Unlike my mother, I am not a natural cook.

I told myself I was beautiful because no one else told me I was. Then I found and married a man who tells me everyday I am….so I took the same approach with my cooking as I did with my looks and crossed my fingers!

It was an invaluable gift my aunt unknowingly gave me during that phone conversation in March. She told me of a time she and my mom were on one of their hour-long cross-continent phone conversations. Their topic turned to the inevitable, food. Paella came up and my mother told her sister, “Do you know who makes a good paella? Mita does.” That was enough to make me cry all over again.

I will treasure those words my mother told her sister and not me. She always said, even a dog needs a pat on the head every now and then. That was my pat on the head…not that I need one…I just want one.

I hope my mother knew how much we all loved her and looked up to her as our hero and role model. No matter how much of a conscious effort you take to make someone know you love them, after they are gone, it all seems so inadequate.

Perhaps I named this blog Unofficial Cook because no matter how many cooks there were around to spoil the brew, we only had one Official Cook in our kitchen – My Mama…and this blog is dedicated to her.

The wonders of the modern world never cease to amaze….

Isn’t it  amazing how easily anyone – no matter how technologically handicapped they may be – can now go online and start polluting cyberspace with their own skewed, demented, twisted points of view?  Like me!

I’m a forty-something late bloomer who found her way from the Philippines, Indonesia, Malaysia, Thailand, Colorado and now back home to the Philippines – through sheer dumb luck. I love traveling and I love food, but not as much as I love the life I have with my husband.  Few people can sincerely say they are truly blessed, I’m one of them.

This blog is not meant to be another of those rants raves and opinions blog.   I intend to have one of those too, but it’s a New Year and I want to maintain my holiday cheer. The Unofficial Cook is meant to be a showcase/self-incriminating record of my daily regular forays into the wifely domain known as the bedroom kitchen.

Okay, let’s get one thing straight – I’m not as bad a cook as I make it sound – honestly.   I mean, ask my husband, he’ll tell you.

I’m no gourmet nor do I have the funds to support a gourmet foods blog – but I’ll be honest.  You’ll see the disasters as well as the triumphs.  That I promise.

Thank you, WordPress -  I’m a-bloggin’ now!

This is a photograph of an ampalaya (bitter melon or bitter gourd) vine grown organically by my newly found cousin, Pito Garcia. We’re second cousins actually and we connected through a website on geneology my maternal relatives have just discovered.  It’s the coolest thing to find relatives online and meet them for the first time in person.  If not for the internet, our paths may not have crossed for a long time.

His farm is located in a beautiful spot surrounded by gentle hills in the Zambales town of San Antonio.  It was a stormy day when Spouse and I went to visit.  You can probably tell by the dark clouds over the hills that more rains were on the way.  The rain and winds came in bursts, strong and surrprising…an amazing display of nature’s power and beauty.  I’m getting all poetic because it was a truly awesome experience.

Pito is currently  experimenting with organic farming. He’s been growing vegetables commercially for about three years now. Going organic is the next logical step. When you’ve lived the life of a farmer, enjoying the clean air, healthy lifestyle, and beautiful, beautiful surroundings that no man can build, going organic is the only way to go.

Watch out in the coming months, the unofficial cook might just turn into the unofficial farmer!

A year ago, we were in beautiful Colorado Springs staying warm indoors and heating up the kitchen with my cooking.  This year, I’m back in the tropics where I belong. My cooking activities have decreased quite a bit, not only because of the heat but also our eating so much less because of the heat…there’s also my mom who lives close by who always invites us over for meals.  Who can say no to Mama?

Thank you to everyone who came by, browsed, left a comment or just found this site by accident.  It amazes me how many people have been through here at one time or another…and from so many places, some of which I’ve never even heard of before. One time, I actually took out a map to look up where in the world the Faroe Islands is located!

Sincerely, thank you.  I feel so honored that my sometimes awkward words about  my kitchen successes and disasters, my memories and my cuisine were read.

Please take a minute to pray for those who perished on this day, five years ago….in New York City, in a field in Pennsylvania and in the Pentagon.

Please also pray that God in His infinite wisdom will  grant the world peace and true understanding despite all our differences.