Yes I picked Julia Child. I remember when I went to see the movie about her when it first came out, alone! I was intrigued by the movie because it was about food lololol (DO NOT JUDGE). I fell in love with the characters in the movie. I fell in love with the ideas in the movie, of how you can start a blog and made money from it and be known for it, of how you can achieve anything if you put your focus and efforts into it. Julia Child is such person. She is considered the person who pioneered in bringing culinary arts to America. She is daring and adventurous. If you read the quote on the top of this post, you will see what I mean. Every great person in the world has to go through tough times, experimenting and fixing mistakes. The key is to utilize those mistakes and check points to ensure you don’t make them again. She inspired me to push forward and pursue this passion in food.
I can’t say that Julia Child is the first inspiration that got me into cooking. If I haven’t told you already, it was my Mom. She is and will always be my biggest inspiration and idol when it comes to cooking, or challenging new things. She didn’t cooking a lot when I was growing up, not until I was about 8 or 9 years old (Oh god time does fly! I’m 26 now!!!). The reason why she started cooking a lot at home is that she went to cooking workshops out of boredom, while waiting to pick up my sister from her tutor class. Since then she practiced a lot at home, trying to perfect the recipes she learned from the workshops. She started to do it out of passion and interest. I could tell from her eyes and her focus. It got me interested as well. She then started to make cakes, a lot of it, sponge cakes, rolled cakes, moon cakes, and gave them away to relatives and my sister’s and my teachers. They all loved her cakes. I saw in the people’s eyes the happiness and the satisfaction when they had good food. It made my Mom happy! That was how I turned to love cooking. If I could do anything that would make me and others happy, it would be cooking. Of course, in order to make good food, you have to practice like crazy. My Mom didn’t make a good cake out of no where. It was a long time of practice, and a bunch of failures, including burned, dry, wet, and dense cakes. She basically just kept on until she got the best result. She had been making birthday cakes for the family for the past 15 years, the same length of time that it takes to convince my parents that I am serious about cooking (and counting).
I followed her foot step and started to cook a lot more when I came to Canada to study. My sister started her new job and I had the most free time, so I started to cook, from dinners to desserts. It was that appetizing at first. I burned peas from stir frying. I over-baked the tart shells. I cut myself so many times to the point that I could see my bone in some of those times. Blood dripping became a common scene to me. I made all of the mistakes in cooking that you could ever think of. When I needed help I always called Mom. I learned from her the tips and tricks, and techniques in cooking. I made myself eat everything I cooked, especially when no one could consume it (hardcore!!!). I told myself “If it sucks like this then remember not to make it this bad again!”. I started to cook even more because I was interested in the way ingredients work together. I started to test try new recipes, new twists, and got my own recipes. Back then it was just a hobby. I didn’t record any of them.
This blog was created in 2011 because my best friend, who is an avid blogger, told me to do it. She gave me a lot of supports in the beginning. I’m on my own now. People can inspire you to do something, but it is you that needs to encourage yourself to keep on going make something for your own, and make it great! In this blog is all of the recipes I could retain, and all of the recipes I find good enough to share. You will see that you can have your own twist after trying them (I hope you do try them out). I’d love to see you making something of your own from my recipes, just like how I came up with them from some online recipes.
One thing that I keep as a basic rule is, if you are trying anything new, make sure you follow the original recipe you have and understand it to the very word, then start inserting your own twist after then. Keep your mind open all the time, because someone you know might have the craziest ideas and they might just work. Embrace all of them because your mind will get used to the creativity and the possibility these ideas can bring to you. It is like studying at school and applying the knowledge at work. This will keep you educated without much help from others. I will improve myself everyday, until I have a substantial amount of knowledge to share with people. I hope to share this skill and this knowledge to others, and pass on the passion for food. Let’s start with you 🙂
