5 Things you don't know about me

I have been tagged by the beautiful and brilliant Bea of La Tartine Gourmande to answer this meme.  I had fun recalling tidbits from my past and how they may have shaped the person that I am now.

1. I’m a Cantonese girl who grew up in the Philippines in a city called Baguio. Both parents were restaurateurs -- fabulous cooks really. Unfortunately, my interest all through my childhood and adolescent life was “What’s for dinner?” I moved to the United States before my thirtieth birthday and have been here close to a decade. In short, I’m turning 40 this year!

2. As much as I love good-quality food, when things I cook don’t turn out the way I want, I use ketchup and a healthy dose of knorr seasoning as a fix-it-all.

3. I have a degree in Electronics Engineering. When I was 19, I went away to Manila to study for the board exam. I was away from my family for the first time. One night, my roommates and I decided to make fried rice. I did not want to tell them that I did not know how to cook. I remember vividly that I offered to help by breaking some eggs for the dish. Having only seen it done in our bakeshop, I have never cracked eggs in my life before that. One can only guess what happened. The first egg I cracked ended up on the floor and the second one had too many eggshells in it. Thus, ended my first attempt to cook in the kitchen.

4. I did not willingly eat vegetables until I got married and my husband could have been a happy vegetarian before he met me. He got me to finally make my peace with vegetables and I got him over his aversion to lamb. A match made in heaven? You bet!

5. A lot of people ask me why I spend my weekends cooking up something for my blog. Well , aside from honing my culinary skills (or lack thereof), I get to interact with a big food blogging community that happens to be a lot of fun! I would want to eventually make a lucrative career out of this – maybe cater or teach. Like Julia Child, it only took me almost 40 years to discover my passion for cooking, but I know now that it’s never too late to pursue that dream!

                   I’m not sure if the following  food bloggers have been tagged yet but I would love to hear more about you!

                        Tanna of My Kitchen in Half Cups

                        Mary of AlpineBerry

                        T.W. Barritt of Culinary Types

                        Steven of Mad Chilli

                        Lydia of The Perfect Pantry

Comments

[Ari (Baking and Books)]

My husband is also a vegetarian but I never convinced him to like meat, alas! I did convince HIM to like vegetables more though. He wasn't a very good vegetarian before he met me, lol.

[bea at La tartine gourmande]

Thanks Veron. It is lovely to get to know you better. Funny coincidence, I hold a Maths, technology and Computer Science degree. Far from my reality today ;-) I wish that your nicest dream come true. You are right, never too late!

[T.W. Barritt]

I guess I'll have to lay my cards -- well, at least five -- on the table! But it might be a few days, since I'm working on a big meal and posting for President's Day. Meanwhile, loved reading more about you, Veron!

[Lydia]

Hi, Veron -- thanks for the tag! I've already bared my soul on this one (here's the link:
http://ninecooks.typepad.com/perfectpantry/2007/01/memes_in_the_pa.html), so I'll encourage all readers of your blog and mine to join in! So much fun to watch this meme travel around the food blog world. Like you, I also came late to a love of food -- and I still reach for the ketchup bottle when my culinary experiments don't go well!!!!

[T.W. Barritt]

Veron - I got around to it sooner, so as you request, here are 5 Things About Me:

http://culinarytypes.blogspot.com/search/label/5%20Things%20About%20Me

Thanks for asking!

[Lisa]

Was nice reading those 5 things about you. I laughed at my monitor when I read No. 2. hee!

xoxo

[MeltingWok]

Veron, thanks for sharing yourself to the blogosphere hehe :) By the way, on #2, I used to use Knorr until I found that the chicken base is made of mainly chicken skins and fats..eww, I have switch to Poloku mushroom seasoning, all vegetarian seasoning, an alternative to chicken base and MSG, very healthy and yummy. Also, you might wanna check out LKK vegetarian oyster sauce, can't live without it either, great fixer upper ! Just want to share that with you, cheers ! :)

[veron]

Hi meltingwok -- hmmmn...it's hard to give up knorr especially since I have no problem with chicken skins and fat -- I kinda know something that taste so good has a disgusting origin ;). I'll check out the Poloku mushroom seasoning...I love mushrooms so I have no doubt I'll like this. Thanks!

[Mary]

Thanks for thinking of me. Now I have to come up w/ my 5 things.

[MARIE]

I enjoy browsing on your tested recipes. Fabulous! Shared your site to some of my friends here in Cotabato.

[Steven]

Veron, I've only just noticed this post so forgive me. :( If it's not too late, I will gladly post something in the next couple of days. Yikes, let me dig in the cupboard for some skeletons... :)