Planting a seed..

Back when I was in Std 2 (Grade 4) I had a friend named Renita. I will always remember her because of her love for food and cooking. At that age I didn’t even make my own sandwhiches but Renita would come to school and tell us about how she helped her dad clean and marinate prawns for supper. PRAWNS!!! We were the same age but she was leagues ahead of me in food maturity. I was in awe.
I changed schools and forgot about Renita and her cooking prowess for a long time. A very long time. Then when I got married (yes that long) I started to develop my love of food. This was helped along by my husband and his crazy cooking skills. Cooking became more about enjoyment and less a chore. I took more pride in what I made and became more confident in flavour combinations. Don’t get me wrong, I’m not an amazing cook. But I am a really good home cook. Comfort food and quick, healthy, tasty dishes are my forté. And I remembered Renita.

I knew that when I had a child I would try to develop a love of food and cooking and baking from an early age. And that’s what I’m doing now. A loves helping mummy in the kitchen. It makes the process longer and definitely more messy but she really enjoys it and so do I. Last night she helped me make fish and potato wedges. She ‘painted’ the fish with olive oil, seasoned the potatoes, added them to the oven tray with tongs (much fun!) and even crushed some corn flakes for a crunchy topping.

I still have a goofy proud smile on my face just thinking about how happy she was ‘mummy I help you.’ ‘Ok I try’.