Experiences in making the meals and sharing it with those you’d gotten acquainted with, translated…
Back in 2017, I’d worked with this section of the paper, doing an illustration for the article, “My Phobias of Cooking”, it’d left that deep impression in me. Perhaps, it’s the connections I had living abroad with the writer, I’d, recalled a lot of things.
the illustration the writer did for the article…from UDN.com
I’m a total glutton, so I kept that passion for cooking, several years ago when I’d gone to Australia for a long trip, I’d become interested in how the locals lived, and so, I’d, worked in exchange for room and board in the local family, I’d helped the owner of the place work for four to six hours a day, in exchange for my stay and three meals for free.
One of the families I’d stayed at was renovating the kitchen, and moved the dining room table into the garden, with a BBQ grill that all the families from Taiwan in Australia had, and, all the warm foods were, made by that grill. In that month, my gluttony made turned the hardships into cinches, I’d made the onion pancakes from time to time, and stir-fried, or, put a wok on the grills, broiled up the water, to make steamed egg, and in the heated summer afternoons, I’d made avocado sushi, and shared my foods with everybody in the family. And, the process of making the foods was, a bit trying, due to the lacking in the equipment I had to use, but as everybody was, sitting on the tables, having a happy meal, my self-confidence got its needed, boost, from the look of satisfaction from my “customers”.
And naturally, there were, times I’d, failed, the writer, Yoko Kirishima said, “You’re making the meals, NOT a bomb, even if you’d failed, it wouldn’t kill you.” I believed that her words were right, that when I’d failed, at most, the only damaged was, my ego, it doesn’t take away years of life of others.
The living standards in Australia are higher than in Taiwan, plus the homestays I’d lived in was more rural, there were only four Chinese restaurants in town, but, due to the assimilation of cultures, and it’d become, unwestern, and uneastern, and although it’d had that Chinese name, but, the true identity of the restaurants was, a mystery to me. And so, as I’d gotten my own kitchen, I’d enjoyed cooking more and more, and loved inviting the friends I’d made locally over, and whether it be the western style cooking I’d picked up from my friends locally, or the remakes of Asian dishes. The point was, my friends and I sat around a table, and enjoyed the foods while they were still, hot, and, we’d had a few drinks too, and using these dishes, to allow those who’d gathered together, to connect.
And so, this writer made the connections with others using food, and food is a great way to connect, because we all need it, and enjoy it, and, cooking sometimes takes a lot of energy and time, because a lot goes into preparing, planning the meals you will be serving to those you enjoyed spending time with, but it’s, a great way to connect with others, having friends over, to share a meal.
Life, the Obstacle Course 