Christmas is coming just round the corner, for children it means presents, for fathers it means more expenses, for wives it means lots of cooking and for everyone it means food and lots of it.
While growing up in London there was a bakery on the way to the car park from the shopping centre. I would ask my mum to buy Jamaican pates for me from the Caribbean bakery to eat in the car on the way home. These meat pies (pates) had this aroma that would call you from a million miles away. The tasted really good to but never as good as my mum's pies. Cooking and the kitchen has always played a major role in my life I always prayed I would be able to cook really well when I grew up. I never did understand why I never got tired of eating my Mums meat pies and why they were so delicious.
Compare soulless Mr. Biggs jolloff rice to the one made by your mum. Because of this ingredient. Married men usually trade in their slender structures for rounder tummies and a more healthy overall look after years of marriage as a result of this special ingredient. Food made with love and care tastes better than food made without. This is a special ingredient, available to anyone who sets their mind to it, and that ingredient is commitment and desire.
Surely there is a rational explanation to the mystery of the meat pies, but that's not really the point, is it? Maybe she would nead the dough more vigourously, maybe its because my mum spent more time or paid more attention while marinating the meat making sure it was really tasty. That's what love does, makes you pay more attention to detail. And that attention to detail is what can make cooking go from good to great, without any secret ingredients or special mad skillz. Not just this christmas but every day, let's prepare meals for our loved ones with loads of love and no resentment (like hubby should help out more around the house... even though he should.) Like any relationship, really, constant fuelling is needed to keep the flame alive.
Ijeoma Olujekun
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