the cookbook i bought
for its photos

I remember our family gatherings and community celebrations such as reunions, fiestas, and the like not as one-day events but usually week-long affairs.

The first herald of such events would be the arrival of relatives three or four days earlier. They would come from places as close as the next town, to as far as several islands over. On certain occasions there would be balikbayans coming home from a couple or so continents away.

The day before the actual event, the cooking (and drinking, if truth be told) would start. Here in the kitchen would be my aunts marinating the pork barbecue in soy sauce, vinegar, calamansi, and ’secret’ herbs and spices; there at the backyard would be my uncles and older male cousins plucking and dressing the chickens (yes, we had super-fresh organic meats taken right off the coops and pens, dahlings ).

At both the kitchen and dining tables would be various ates (older cousins) and manangs (usually distant relatives and neighbors) in various stages of food-slicing, cutting, dicing, wrapping, and other culinary-related preparations.

With all this cooking going on, the only time I remember anyone ever opening a cookbook of sorts was when my mom’s younger sister would occasionally consult a red-covered notebook to check if she had all the ingredients necessary to make a certain dish. This red notebook contained recipes, all written by hand. These were the recipes my Lola Bening had verbally taught my aunt over a period of several years, which my aunt had conscientiously written down.

Aside from this, there was no cookbook or recipe book in sight, not a one. All of these family members and neighbors apparently cooked by memory the recipes that have been passed on from parents to children, from one generation to the next.

So I was not too surprised when, checking our bookshelf when I got the tag from my friend Minnette of Lafang List, I realized I only had a couple of cookbooks to my name.

< --- rows and rows of books, and nary a cookbook in sight. oh, my!

This did puzzle me a bit for a few minutes, because I love books and I often browse through cookbooks at the bookshop, so I had initially thought I might have at least half a dozen cookbooks by now. But when realization dawned, all I could do was chuckle in amusement.

I guess the practice of cooking from memory and sharing recipes verbally or by demonstration, rather than from a cookbook, is still too ingrained in me.

* * * * * * * *

Because of this meme, I’ve made a mental note to buy more cookbooks in the future. I realize I need them, not just for the great photos, but also to expand my cooking horizons, so to speak. In the meantime, in the spirit of the meme, here are my answers to the quiz:

1. Total number of cookbooks I own:

Strictly speaking, I only own two commercially-published cookbooks: one of them, on Filipino recipes, was given to me by Markie’s mom, and the other I bought a few months back because I loved its photographic treatment of the food.

2. Last cookbook I bought:

Step-by-step Delicious Noodles - which was the cookbook I bought for its photos (see above).

3. Last food/cook book I read:

The Barefoot Contessa, at the bookshop, because I was intrigued by the title. I was glad I did, as the book also has lots of good photos. The author’s cooking principle, that “food is not about impressing people…but about making them feel comfortable”, jives with my own, too. I think this will be the next cookbook that I’ll buy.

4. Five Three (cook) books that mean a lot to me:

my mom-in-law’s recipes from
their side of the family

- My aunt’s red notebook with the hand-written recipes.
- My mom-in-law’s typewritten recipes on index cards.
- Comforting Cuisine, which is not really a cookbook, but a collection of essays on food. The first essay is by Doreen Fernandez, and part 4 includes the winning essays of the Doreen Gamboa Fernandez Food Writing Award.

This book (or booklet, to be more precise) on ‘Philippine and related culinary arts’ was compiled and edited by the Manila Ladies Branch of the International Wine & Food Society.

5. Which five three people would you like to see fill this out in their blogs?

Phisch of In That Number, who baked a yummy-looking lemon bread and posted the recipe on her blog, and who generously gave me tips on how to make/get some lemon curd; My friends Trixy and Stella - I don’t know if they own cookbooks either, so it would be interesting to find out.

Posted under Food and Dining