Cooking in the Jungle

I love cooking! My brothers and I have grown up enjoying the fun of cooking with my mom, and it has become a hobby more than a chore. I think a lot of boys don’t cook because they believe that the mom and girls cook and the boys clean up. And there’s nothing wrong with homes or cultures where that is true. But in a household of hungry boys with no one else to help Mom (who has to prepare everything from scratch) make our dinner, we have had to step up to the plate and learn to cook to keep our appetites at bay.

Living in the tribe means we can’t go eat out or go buy a frozen pizza, so we cook everything ourselves. Mom does the main cooking, but we like to help out and practice. Our mom cooks every day, and we love her home cooking. She is amazing! Making food for six people three times a day isn’t easy. That is another reason we like to help out.

In fact, lunch prep is part of our daily schedule. Ever since I was little, I remember being in the kitchen, helping my mom prepare meals. We boys enjoy working together to make a special dinner for our parents, or prepare lunch when Mom is busy. We eat a lot of rice, veggies, and soups. So that is where most of our skills lie. We like to make Asian dishes like curries and stir-fries. Our mom is a great cook and a great teacher. She has taught us all the ins and outs of cooking breads, vegetable dishes, fish, and lots of other staple foods. I like to experiment in the kitchen. It’s fun to try to make a fancy desert or a complex entrée. Most of the time it turns out not so good, but sometimes we get a real winner. I enjoy cooking a lot; it is a fun way to spend an afternoon.