Cooking Love

At the beginning of her marriage, my mom didn’t know how to cook. My grandparents always have someone who comes to cook for the whole family. And when my mom was a student in another town, she always bought her meals from a nearby warung, a small, usually family business restaurant with an affordable price, which we can find throughout Indonesia. So she didn’t have the opportunity to properly learn to cook. Well, like most of Indonesian, she can cook instant noodles and fried eggs, of course! But then she married my dad and moved to France. There’s no way they could hire a cook. It’s way too expensive for an average income like theirs. My dad knows that he married a woman who couldn’t cook. “It’s okay. I’ll cook for us. Or we can buy meals,” he said. And that's what they did. They adopted French style for breakfast. They bought baguette or croissant from a nearby boulangerie. So no need to cook in the morning. At noon, when my dad wasn’t home, my mom prepared something easy; plain steak, pasta, nasi goreng, … Sometimes she just heated a supermarket prepared meal in the microwave. My dad cooked dinner when he’s home after work. He’s not a really good cook. But they have to eat, anyway. And she is in love... My mom also cooked with instant seasoning she brought from Indonesia. But of course, it didn’t last long. And we couldn’t find it easily in France. Little by little, my mom started preparing dinner instead of dad who sometimes came back home too late. Especially since I was born. There she started to add some personal touch to her simple cuisine. From adding pepper sauce to the steak, or homemade bolognese sauce to their pasta. She also started to try to cook Indonesian dishes with powdered spice as we can not find certain fresh spices. Sometimes she succeeded, sometimes not really. But my dad let her try every time she wanted to. And he didn’t complain when the result was not as expected. Yes, he’s in love... My sister knows mom as a great cook, as mom could already cook Indonesian Rendang and French Tête de Veau Sauce Gribiche when she was born. Mom can even make pâtisseries now. And she does it quite well! But then she suddenly realizes that my dad doesn't cook anymore! If she couldn’t cook when she was not feeling well or had an appointment, he’d say, ”We’ll make a delivery?” Then he would order some pizza. He rarely buys something that my mom can cook. When my sister and I asked for burgers or kebabs, he’d say, “I’m sure that we won’t like it as mom’s cuisine is way better!” Yes, they’re still in love…

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I submitted this story for the 3rd Peer-graded Assignment: Elements of Structure of MOOC Writing for Young Readers: Opening the Treasure Chest by Commonwealth Education Trust on Coursera.

I got two good reviews. One of them gave me a suggestion to improve my grammaire. And I admit that! Living in France, not using English as much as in Indonesia (with most movies and series on TV dubbed in French!), surely not helping me... 😅