Concerning Food:

If I were to go back to school, I would have to say that a culinary degree is one I would most likely pursue. As a child I would come home from school hungry and weary. Lo and behold there was no food! Where I lived, there were no fast foods and no convenient stores for miles and miles, the reason being I lived in a jungly abode. TIA (This Is Africa) as we often say. So what to do? My sister went to school in another country and both my parents were working. That left me with an empty stomach. At first I borrowed some old issues of Reader’s Digest from my elementary school teacher and followed some recipes available. Due to my incompetence, some dishes turned out horrendously appalling and some were palatable enough that my dog would eat them. Nevertheless, I kept cooking on. I utilized whatever limited resources I could find in order to satisfy my growling stomach. I read recipe books from magazines, observed my mom cook her delectable dishes, and I would go to the neighbor’s house to watch my good friend cook her tasty treats. Soon enough, word of my cooking skills spread throughout the outlying villages and I became the Village “Chef!” hehehe . . . not quite.

Today, I cook mostly for my family and friends. Most of the things I cook are things that I like to eat (make’s sense huh?). My most favorite cuisine is Korean. My culinary influences range from American South West, Asian, East African, Indian, Italian, and Middle-Eastern cuisine. Most are traditional comfort foods and some are fusion experimentation. My motto is: “A clean plate is a happy plate.”

Whenever I cook I don’t usually use the exact measurements and what nots unless they are recipes that are either new to me or have not made in a long time. I sort of eyeball the ingredients and use my guesstimation skills a lot. So here are some of the recipes I’d like to share with you . . . ENJOY! ~merck