So nice to meet you...

I lived a little and then I began cooking.

Cookery is a journey for me, every time I think I know what I need to know I realise I don't. It may seem odd, but I'm not really into food, I can go for days without eating and not notice. I don't obsess over food. However, eating and food experimentation has been an integral part of my life since I was a small child so while I may not be a food junkie, I value a tasty meal and like the challenge of making new dishes.

I baked my first food offering when I was four, a lopsided, pathetic cake for my father. I owe so much to my father, not only did he bestow his zest for learning and love of life on me, he encouraged my brother and I to try new foods and to not accept simply “what was going”.

In 1985 I began flirting with vegetarianism and settled down to a commitment in 1987. At times I've walked the vegan side of the fence, mostly I've remained a lacto-veg. Vegetarianism brought new food challenges since health food stores and ready-made veggie analogues were not as ubiquitous as they are today. Becoming a vegetarian meant making a commitment to preparing more of my foods than I had previously. New skills were learned and my mind opened up just a little bit more.

And then I got married.

My “let me introduce my food world to you” offering to my husband-to-be was tofu manicotti and an apple pie. Despite the fact that he was a full-fledged member of the Meaty Man Club, he loved it. We were so different in so many ways, that diet was only a minor consideration. That was before we spent almost 20 years finding a compromise for our food tastes. My beloved had grown up in a home in which fast food meals and packaged food were de rigeur. O so different from my early childhood in Japan and America and the home-prepared, fresh, ethnically-diverse meals that my father relished. It has certainly been a challenge to please two palates, and those of our young'uns, but a fun journey. Thank you for stopping by my kitchen and sharing a little of life here with Meat & Three Veg.