Playing "House"

When we were young we always play House.

I will always be the "baby", my cousin yann will always be the father and the rest will be teacher, student, mother, bus driver and groocery man.

I take my hats off to full-time housewives or homemakers as some my like to call themselves.

for me, it is pathatic to be waiting for your husband to return home, for your children to return home and to wait on them. pathatic is the wrong word to use because this is a great sacrifice and an act of spousal and motherly love which is one great love and i should not put it at that level but it was how i felt.

Enough about eating home cooked food for all its goodness.

I realise the good effects of home-made food and it is good. the only thing i could not get used to is that it is full-time work. for the 2 weeks i stayed at home, a typical day would be morning breakfast bread and butter with my hot coffee and my ever favourite The Straits Times. Then it is out to the market for some ribs and spices, veggies and eggs. then come the thawing, peeling, shelling, soaking, cutting, and this is just preparation! take a break, dare skip lunch. come 4pm, start boiling soup-of-the-night. start at 3 if you want a really good soup in all its glory. After the cooking, there is the washing! and the packing off utensils back to the racks so as not to clutter the drying rack. Not forgetting the mopping of floors to rid any grease. Floors in pural cos it includes the kitchen and living room as my flat is small.

I am just wondering if ever a housewife cooks and does so much and all the husband does is to either gobble the food or worse, critise the cooking. that will be just sad.

after some thinking, i think it is cheaper to eat out. cos there is the electricity for the stoves and cookers, plus the water bill for all the washing and cleaning.

Still, the goodness of home-cooked food for all its nutrients, less monosodium carbonate, lard and salt.

You know, the food at most of our foodcourts are souless nowadays.

soul-less, cooked without passion, without pride, without love, without soul.

the ingredients are mass produced, the cooking is systematic like factory-line and most of the time, i am left thirsty after eating.

gone are the days where we had the street fare and wholesome dishes.

I hope i can hang on to cooking, at least on the weekends and at least for myself.

Brendan for one always tells me it is too much work to cook, but for now, he leaves it to me.

The good thing is that my soups are good!

Of course they are, they are with so much ingredients and cooked in clay pot over hours.

So far, I only know of the few flavours- Sichuan with tomatoe, potatoe & carrots, ground nuts & garlic, etc. all with good pork ribs. Herbal chicken soup. Corn in clobs.

I learnt stir fry choy sim / spinnach with mushroom, black fungus, beancurd skin, with regular onion & garlic. Pig trotter in vinegar & ginger. best!

The end. this is the end of what i know to cook! help! what else?!