Awakening the Foodie in Me

For some reason, I'd like to investigate the awakening of the foodie in me. Consider this a rough summary of my recent (9 months worth of) food-related posts. Expect this to be quite lengthy.

I was never fond of working in the kitchen. Growing up, my only contribution to homecooking is washing the dishes! Laugh for all I care but I find it fulfilling. In fact, I consider it one of my talents! Tee hee!

I grew up in a bakery. Wait -- our bakery was part of our house. No. Our house was part of our bakery. Anyhow... I grew up being surrounded by food. My mom ran a decent bakery in a medium-sized subdivision in Cavite. It was the only bakery in that area that time. My mornings were filled with the scent of freshly baked pandesal. I always had the first batch of ensaymada and spanish bread right off the oven! On weekends, I help out in the store and in the bakery. My birthdays have always been planned out by my mom. (Ofcourse highlighted by my mom's famous cakes!) Those were the few the times of the year we get to use the party chairs and tables we usually rent out to our clients. My mom makes the balloons while I help out print them with "Happy Birthday Ann Marie!". Cute ei?! Aside from all these, my mom also makes pancit canton and fresh miki (egg noodles) from scratch. She has also tried making her own Nata De Coco (Cream of Coconut), Tocino, Longanisa, and other food products that she can sell. I have admired her for that. She's a total homemaker, food lover, and entrepreneur! (And she also makes our own bath soap, detergent, and dishwashing liquid. But that's another story.)


Awareness
I am very lucky to be in IT. As one of its perks, I was able to travel to the US, Guam, and recently, Canada. Along with these travels, I take with me pictures. (Hello! I spent my first hundred dollars on a digicam in 2000 -- the time it wasnt heard of before. See Ode to my Digicam). Along with these travels, I also take with me memories of the food I saw, bought, and tasted.

When I was in the US (San Bernardino -- an hour south from LA), I remember my boss' wife's Pad Thai which she usually serves for dinner. I remember having cheap lunch at the Japanese Fast Food, Yoshinoya (which is new here). I remember having my first crab cake in a Thai restaurant in LA (c/o my friend Dessa). I remember driving to a nearby Thai resto just for their Thai Iced Tea and Chicken Curry. I remember In and Out (a popular burger chain) when I was in my cousin's place in San Francisco. I will never forget the Eat-All-You-Can place called Todai, a true sushi and dessert feast! And I remember the cheap buffets along the long strip of hotels in Las Vegas. Ofcourse, I remember the biggest sandwiches I have never seen in the Philippines -- sandwiches wider than my face! (Note: I have a wide face.)

In Guam, I had a taste of Ahi Poke. It's raw fish in a nutty and savory sauce. Since it was raw, I thought it was Japanese. My cousin corrected me by saying that it's Hawaiian. I miss it so much (to this day). Also I got to taste my officemate's Chicken Kilagwin. At Hard Rock Cafe, we ordered a big plate of Onion Blossom -- something I never had before.

In my recent trip to Canada, we enjoyed an affordable lunch buffet at Shahi Nan Kebab, an Indian Pakistani restaurant. I learned to appreciate the taste of authentic Middle Eastern and Indian cuisine. We also had this favorite Thai place everyone at work truly look forward to. It's 40 minutes away from work but we brave the freeways just to sit and dine at Salad King. I also won't forget my first taste of Baklava in Montreal. My curiousity for Greek food grew as we tried out a humble restaurant at Greek Town in Toronto.


Appreciation
I remember all these because I obviously love food! For a moment I thought... Am I weird? Why do I dine and take pictures of what I eat? What do I ask the waiter what's on my plate? Why do I scour the internet and look for some restaurant's menu? Why do I even have the energy to write about these in my blog? I somehow found out I was a foodie.

As my mom and sister busily plan out what to cook in between meals, I was busy watching the Food Network. I enjoyed watching Rachel Ray and Wolfgang Puck, but it was Giada de Laurentiis who made the most impression on me. I remember how she expressed the aroma and the texture of her roasted vegetables in olive oil and herbs. She spoke like a fairytale narrator demystifying the sensation brought about by a meager bite off a roasted potato. At first I shunned the idea of trying out her recipes. It was until she made Tiramisu that I started to feel that I can also be like her. For days, I babbled about her Tiramisu recipe. I think I was still in the process of convincing myself that I could do it. My mom, like a fairy godmother, instantly escorted me to the appliance store and chose a hand mixer. Alas! My first baking tool! In a matter of days, my mom bought everything else SHE THINKS I would need. Read: SHE THINKS (because I never thought of cooking anything more than Tiramisu). Then I found myself shopping for an oven with my mom. On the following weekends I've been seeing specific dimensions of baking pans in my grocery list!!!


The Awakening
Then we made brownies. And I made my first eflyer, hoping that I could sell these goodies. Just in time for the Christmas Season, we sold almost 50 boxes of brownies and I gave away many as my own Christmas presents. My officemates have been ordering for banana cakes, cream puff, tiramisu, chocolate-dipped cookies and mango cream. Some were my mom's recipes while others were my own concoctions inspired by ... what else?! The Internet!!! Now, I have the following products and I know I still want to add more in my reportoire.

As I started selling my baked goodies, I also had this desire to cook asian food. Due to my exposure to Asian cuisines in my travels abroad, I wanted to know if I could copy that at home. I have never never never cooked from scratch before but I mustered all my courage to cook Chicken Souvlaki which I miss from my recent trip to Toronto. I was so proud of it I took a picture and wrote about it here: My Greek Attempt. Then I also made Chicken Satay (which is Thai). For Christmas, I named these two chicken variations as Chicken Internationale. Since then I've been experimenting with Chicken Tandoori and Chicken Curry. It was not until lately that I've had interest to learn the usual Filipino homecooked meals such as Sinigang, Beef Caldereta, Karekare, and the likes. I've been a reader of FOOD magazine, and I usually visit Pinoycook. Now I truly enjoy it a lot and I like to take my time in trying out recipes. I look forward to watching Giada De Laurentiis, Ina Garten, Wolfgang Puck, Rachel Ray, Gale Gand, and the handsome Tyler Florence at The FoodNetwork channel. At times, I kill time watching Iron Chef America and it never fails to amuse me. Since early this year, I have been receiving cookbooks as gifts from my friends last Christmas and on my birthday!

It all started with Tiramisu and now I'm hooked. I never knew I had a foodie monster in me. How about you? Have you unleashed yours yet?