Cooks are witches too
I was never one of those kids who pushed their food around their plates and never finished their portions. In fact, I was the total opposite. I remember my cousins taking in small spoonfuls of rice and ulam while I kept shoveling in rice, squash, and strips of fried chicken into my mouth as we planned what to play next. I was already quite fond of food at a young age, and so my mother, wanting to put my voracity for food to good use, enrolled me in a summer cooking course at Maya Kitchen. I was enthralled as our teachers, in stiff chef’s hats and starchy aprons, whipped up delicious-looking meals and snacks. After the demonstration, the students would get a chance to follow the recipes and cook the meals on their own, with the teachers’ guidance, of course.
I found that I enjoyed cooking as much as I enjoyed eating. I relished cutting vegetables (making sure my fingers were curled and away from the blade), rolling cutlets in flour and dropping them in a deep frying pan, browning chopped garlic in sizzling butter, waiting for the oven’s loud “ting!” signaling that my baked goods are ready. I would take home my mimeographed copies of the recipes and do them at home — from blueberry cheesecake to various types of pasta sauces. I even bought my own cookbooks to experiment on new recipes.
My mimeographed copies have long since disintegrated (it’s also possible that I lost them), and all the cookbooks I bought are now being used as scratch paper. I never got to develop by budding cooking skills beyond boiling pasta and throwing ingredients into a pan for sauce. My interest in food never waned though, as I still watch the Food Network (especially episodes of Good Eats with Alton Brown and 30-Minute Meals with Rachel Ray) and, of course, eat, eat, eat. Recently my friend Liz has taken up baking, and whenever she blogs about her newest baking endeavour (like kalamansi muffins), I totally share in her joy and excitement. I truly believe there is so much joy to be found in food, and I have been waiting for something to inspire me to pick up my plastic measuring spoons and spatula again.
It shouldn’t surprise me that it took a children’s cookbook to remind me of my earlier chef wannabe days. The Witchkins All-Occasion Cookbook, which seems like a cookbook for kids. After all, there are three main “Witchkins” — Carmela, Anna M and Katrina — who appear throughout the book to tell you fun facts about food (for example, did you know that the banana plant is not a tree, but the world’s largest herb?) and to show you what occasions their magical concoctions are appropriate for. There are pretty fonts, adorable little accents, and cute captions to give the whole book a whimsical, fun feel. However, its cover alone appeals to food lovers of all ages. Besides the three Witchkins (and Katrina’s older brother Sir Nigel), there is a huge, delicious-looking cookie right smack in the middle of the cover. It looks chocolate-y, chewy, and absolutely yummy. Flip the book open and you’ll discover glossy page after glossy page of delectable-sounding recipes and hunger-inducing pictures. Something inside me tells me that if I cook the recipes, they might not turn out as pretty, but that still doesn’t stop me from wanting to try.
Written by Mel Martinez-Francisco, this cookbook is unlike any other children’s cookbook. The recipes are unique, enticing and grown-up. While other cookbooks may relegate children to preparing “kiddie” meals, the Witchkins open the doors to dishes like Special Salpicao, Tic-Tac-Croquetas, Beef with Broccoli Bonanza, and Honey Glazed Sole. This is why it appeals to me, even if I’m well over the age for Witchkins. Anyone who wants to start cooking can refer to this cookbook and whip up amazing meals.
Some of the recipes are old favorites for beginners, from cheeseburgers to buttery French toast; from Silly Fusili with Mushrooms to Merry Chicken Macaroni. Of course, there a lot more recipes from this book that I’m itching to try in the kitchen. Cheesy Crab Wontons, Kooky Kani Salad, Chocolate Chip Pizza, Chocolate Banana Wraps, and Gooey Fudge Cakes definitely deviate from more traditional recipes we see in most cookbooks and even sound good enough to be on a menu of some restaurant. Since the recipes are simple and really easy, I’m pretty excited to start with them before moving on to more complicated, time-consuming ones.
How I wish that the Witchkins and their awesome recipes had been around when I was starting my mini-career as a chef! Perhaps I would have been a regular Iron Chef in our kitchen already. Now, I’ll settle for just being regular in the kitchen. Armed with my new cookbook (and the Witchkins!), I’m ready to re-discover the universal magic and the joy of cooking.
