My New Year's resolution for 2013 was to take cooking a lot more seriously. I have been cooking for years, but it's only been in the past few that my passion has really flourished. I absolutely love cooking, I am constantly dreaming about food, researching recipes or reading cookbooks. When I'm in a kitchen I feel at home. I feel accomplished and I love every second of it. To be able to use creativity and experience to create food is a wonderful thing.
Everyone needs to eat and I don't know one single person that doesn't LOVE to eat. When you eat a homecooked meal, you feel satisfied, you feel comfortable and you feel happy. When you eat a meal that has been made with love and with the most positive intentions, you can feel it throughout your body. My favorite thing to do is to cook for other people. When I see the look on their faces or when they say to me, "Oh wow, that was so good", it's the best feeling in the world. Nothing makes me happier than feeding people I love.
This past weekend I was given the opportunity to cook for friends of mine who are expecting their second baby. It is a wonderful thing when a family can enjoy every minute of their time focused on their children, their friends, their families, and they don't have to worry about meal planning, grocery shopping or slaving away in a kitchen. All of those tasks require time and energy and it can take away from other experiences. To be able to have given the gift of time and energy is a remarkable experience. This family will be able to rest easier knowing that they have good, healthy, homecooked meals at their fingertips. No brainstorming involved, no tedius tasks like chopping, peeling, shredding, stirring... just pure enjoyment of the moment at hand.
When I was contacted by this family, I was ready to go. "Of course I will help you! Whatever you want, I will do it!" You need to be positive and you need to be able to give everything you can to create the best quality of your craft. No task is too difficult and absolutely no task is impossible. Everything can be done, anything can be worked out exactly the way you planned - the key is staying positive, organized and focused.
I was so excited to get the ball rolling and to plan everything out. I used inspiration from my own repertoire and selected recipes that my client had requested. Altogether, 13 different recipes were scheduled! First came the task of organizing the recipes by group, then planning the ingredients needed for each, then a shopping list had to be created, which included all the food storage supplies, along with accurate pricing information. That meant creating spreadsheets so I could see everything I needed at one time, actively going to the grocery store and reading the prices on everything, taking into account that these products don't necessarily come in specific quantities for a recipe. I also had to calculate the preparation and cooking times of each recipe and organize each one by difficulty/time. All of that work and I hadn't even bought the groceries or started cooking anything. You know what? I loved every waking minute I dedicated to this project. Just knowing that all my hard work was going toward the ultimate goal of helping this family is what motivated me to work hard.
I had to take a full-day class on Saturday, so that left me with one day to cook everything I had planned. I was determined! I was excited and there was no way anything was going to stop me. Could I actually prepare and cook 13 meals in only one day? There was no way I could predict the actual outcome, because anything can happen when you are cooking, but I DID IT! I never could have accomplished such a huge task without the endless help and support from my perfect mother, Sharon Twiss. Also, this never could have come to fruition without the opportunity given to me by Robyn and Sam Sajadi - thank you for putting your trust in me and for allowing me to help your beautiful family during this exciting time in your life. Endless thanks, gratitude and love to everyone involved. I cannot wait to do it again!!!
Here is what I managed to cook in just over 12 hours on Sunday:
3 soups: Carrot-Butternut Squash, Mediterranean Lentil, and Thai Coconut Chicken
Vegetarian Black Bean Chili
Channa Gobi (Chickpea and Cauliflower Curry)
Beef Curry
Chorizo Sausage and Sweet Potato Melange
Shepherd's Pie x 2
Classic Lasagna x 4
Homestyle Chicken & Rice Casserole x 2
Moroccan Chicken Stew
Beef Meatballs x 35
Turkey Meatballs x 45
If you, or someone you know, may benefit from my services. Or if you would like recipe information, please contact me @ Lhamiltontwiss89@gmail.com
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