The Pilgrim's Pots and Pans

Who would have thought I’ll be writing about food? This may not be a scholarly peer-reviewed piece but who would have thought it would even be available for the world to read? Even after posting recipes on my main blog, not many people have an idea how this girl’s about to embark on an adventure in food and things related. They probably think I’m too busy with policy work, plotting and scheming or just out chasing the wind. Well, true I’m preoccupied but then, who’s too busy for food?

I’ll have to admit though that I was initially hesitant to do this. I may know my way around a marketplace and a kitchen but who knew? Who would believe me? Aside from close friends and family, most people I’m in constant contact with are hardly aware of my culinary skills. If I bring lunch to work, people assume I just got back from the province and my mother cooked it. Almost everyone assumes that I don’t know my way around the kitchen. Even in high school, during a cooking session in home economics class, a lot of my classmates exclaimed that “OH, she does KNOW how to handle a sandok (ladle)!” Note that this was in Pampanga, where almost everyone can cook.

Moreover, unlike regular foodies, I don’t go out of my way to watch cooking shows, I have less than ten cookbooks and I wouldn’t know the first thing about what the current fashionable cuisine is or who among the chefs is making headlines. Perhaps the only competence I have is that I have been immersed in the culture of a region which considers cooking a ritual. Through necessity, or some may say under duress, I have mastered the basic skills this entails such that I am unafraid to experiment and explore other culinary delights. In fact, I have had several successful attempts at replicating dishes encountered in places which are worlds away from my grandmother’s kitchen.

Ok, so what? Are there not too many food and cooking blogs yet? Well, I haven’t really counted and I don’t know what number accounts for too many. But like what I said, my initial forays into writing about food were mainly brought about by requests for recipes. Once I started posting them online, I wanted to give readers the context in which a certain dish was cooked, which of course meant a little cultural history. I usually introduced the main ingredients of the recipe but later on, I found myself remembering the memories that went with the cooking and the eating. Pretty soon I thought of writing about food that I now seldom find. Mentioning this to my mother, she agreed that it was worthwhile documenting food that’s about to disappear. We were amused at the thought of my career dealing with endangered species (to a certain extent) while my about-to-commence-hobby tracks down endangered food. Hmmm… amusing indeed but with a touch of poignancy.

But then they say a long journey starts with a single step. For this blog, the first step was to bring the recipes here. Readers of the Passionate Pilgrim would notice that their comments have followed the recipes too and there are new smileys to play with, courtesy of my blog genie Catsudon. I am now in the process of adding pictures to and revising the entries since we realised these are being accessed by surf-in readers. Ever observant of online dynamics, Catsudon mentioned that I’ll have to re-write the procedures step-by-careful-step as I couldn’t assume knowledge in my readers. Neither can I give them a chat tutorial if they just happen to be referred by search engines. A re-reading of the recipes made me realise that I do assume certain knowledge in the cook, such that I omitted writing a very crucial step in the stews, which is to add small amounts of water as the mixture dries out. So dear readers, if there was a disaster that happened due to your diligence in following my instructions, I am to blame. Mea culpa, mea culpa, mea maxima culpa.

To make it more interactive and collaborative, another feature of this blog is the recipe request form you see on the left menu bar. This was originally suggested by Ruth the Butterfly. It seemed something that was indeed needed when we noticed that some surf-in readers left me e-mail and other messages requesting for recipes. I request anyone who uses the feature to please indicate how soon you need me to reply to your request, since it is my policy to only post recipes that I have kitchen- and taste-tested myself. Given that I have a non-cooking related career and something resembling a social life, requests may not be responded to within the day. On busy days, perhaps not even for a week. Anyway, just let me know what you need, we’ll see what we can do.

To end this introductory note, I would like to encourage everyone to let me know of your comments or suggestions to improve this blog. Just like how I cook food to be partaken by everyone, I hope you join the discussion and enjoy cooking the recipes from this site. ‘Kain na tayo!