Story of a cooking lover – part 2 “My fate has changed after marrying”
It’s another woken night at 3:19 am to tell story abaout me, a cooking lover and my passion for cooking.
Is that true that I worked as a personal cook before marrying? The story behind that is like this: When I was still in Vietnam diplomatic University (Diplomatic Academy of Vietnam), I had taken part in a group of 3-4 people for a cooking competition hosted by my University.
That day, my group made some dishes but I remember most the fired tofu with scallion. It was quite easy to make. After frying tofu, dip it into hot fish sauce oil with scallion. It was quite simple but adored by many and we were runner up in the competition. It was the first cooking competition I took part in, I didn’t have other chance afterward.
Recall back to the time when I was working in American Embassy’s Gym, there was a shift from 6 a.m. to 2 p.m.. After 2, I got a part time job to work for a jewelry company. After that, there was a gym member asked me if I would like to cook for him. I thought it was a joke but he really needed someone to cook for him, and there would be a payment. I remember informing him on cooking Vietnamese dish only but he accepted it right away, claiming to eat everything I serve.
I can’t recall where I got the nerve to accept the offer despite never cook for others. The only thing I could see at that time was that I was paid. He gave me month daily to do groceries and cook before he got home. I usually made him pho, rice with beef that he loved when he were in Vietnam. I did it for a while and stopped due to some reasons I will open up in next episode. All I can say is that I expected to be paid well but what I received was eye-opening. That was before my marriage, thankfully my husband has changed my fate completely.
He a diplomat so he moves all the time, one new country every few years so I will need to get used to that. I would like to find a job as well but my family never stay in a place for too long. After our wedding, I moved to Singapore a few months before he ends his term in the country. He went to work every day while I stayed at home doing chores and cooking. First I cooked everything Vietnamese but then I also asked him his favorite dish so he can feel right at home. After learning some of the American dishes’ name. I found the recipe online and cooked him mashed potato and toast.
He was very surprised when I served him the dishes and they tasted exactly how they should if not to be better. I just smiled and told him to give me the names and he should receive what he ordered. TV came to be a great help as well since by watching them when I was in Singapore, I have learned on how to cook traditional American dishes and have more chances to practice when we moved back to America.
I stay with my mother-in-law for a year while my husband was in his term in Africa. I asked her for recipe so I could cook for her. She gave me the recipe book that contains all of her favorite dishes and I followed strictly, which resulted in her satisfaction with my outcome. She had many cook book, and many cooking program on TV to guide us how to cook so I paid a lot of attention and mimic the cooking.
My mother-in-law is also a great cook, every dish she served was masterpiece so I have learned so much from her. She said her family had had a restaurant on their own and among the members, she was the best out of them. The restaurants were always packed with diners. I wonder if run in family that make me love everything she cooked.
In 2012, I moved to Virginia to live with my husband. One year of this moving has given me a great experience in cooking. I had got more confidence and also being able to cook many dishes of American tradition, well-known Italian, sweet dessert from France, Mexican, Korean and Japanese. I got back to Vietnam in 2012 and made Kimchi for my family, which has so many relatives and cousin to have been working in Korea so they know a thing or two about kimchi. Everyone loved it and demanded another one before I left for America. My Korean friend also loves it and always gives me good feedback when I make some.
Right after arriving to America, I made a video for my family and those who love my kimchi. In that trip back to Vietnam, I hadn’t had time to make this kimchi to everyone so this is a gift to them so everyone can give a try at home. The video was so detailed and took me an hour filming but of course I cut it down to 10 minutes and decided to send it to my family in Vietnam. I was trying to send it via email but the capacity was too big. Burning and mailing were not an option since it was too costly so I decided to post it on Youtube so everyone can see and follow the guidance.
That video had received so many positive feedback and marked my Youtuber life from there.
It’s 4:10 a.m. now and I would like to take some rest. The video producing is really fun and I would like to share it with you guys in the next blog. I will change the topic a bit to “Baking tools”.