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My mum, Cora |
Growing up as a young girl in Malaysia, I
was exposed to a wonderful melting pot of cooking styles and I was lucky enough
to have a mother who was an adventurous and enthusiastic cook, who instilled in
me the love of good food and good cooking.
I was born in the Kuala Lumpur to Eurasian
parents and a very large and close-knit extended family that celebrated every
occasion with raucous get togethers centered around good food. At an early age we moved to Malacca to live
with my maternal grandparents as my father’s job in the armed forces took him
away on postings every two years and he wanted us to have a more stable school
life rather than keep moving from school to school. It was this move that was instrumental in my mum
honing her culinary skills and blossoming into the fantastic cook that she will
always be remembered as.
A “Eurasian” in Malaysia, is usually
someone with ancestors who were Portuguese, Dutch or English who had married
the local Indians, Chinese or Malays…….. or all of the above…… a veritable
Heinz 57 Varieties. As a result the
cuisine cooked in most of our homes stole a little bit from each of these
cultures and gave us a wonderful array of dishes that where traditionally
considered “Eurasian”.
As a young girl, we travelled to Australia
for a year whilst my father was at an Officer’s Training Course and lived in
Point Lonsdale, an idyllic coastal town in Victoria. It was that trip that would plant a seed in
my father’s mind that would end up with my two brothers and I returning to Melbourne
years later to take up our tertiary education.
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My family: Olivia, Andrew, Euan and me |
It was during this time that I met my
husband Andrew, an Australian of Scottish, English, German and French ancestry. After a long distance courtship I moved back
to Melbourne, we married and then had our two beautiful children, Olivia and
Euan who are truly “Eurasian” in every sense of the word being born from one
parent who was predominantly European and one who was predominantly Asian.
I was extremely lucky to marry into a
family who appreciated food as much as my own and through my mother in law,
Deidre I was able to master new cooking styles that I had not previously
tried. She was renowned for her soups
and desserts which will hopefully appear in the blog.
Unfortunately for my children, both their
grandmothers were taken from us too early and part of this blog is to document
the style of food that we enjoy in our household and also to pay homage to the
memory of two wonderful women who brought great joy to us all with the food
that came out of their kitchens.
The title of the blog “Just add a pinch of…..”
is something that I would hear them both saying to me when I was trying out a
dish and it didn’t seem to be tasting right.
When I look back on it, just adding a pinch of salt, pepper, spice, love
or effort could have been one of many ingredients that would turn the dish
around.
The blog will also highlight events in our
lives, the way we celebrate them, the places we celebrate at and any thoughts
that might cross my mind.
This is my first blog so I hope you will
stick around and watch it, and me, evolve.
Cheers
Wow Sonia, this is great! I don't think I ever told you as a 16 year old I spent 6 weeks in Malaysia as an exchange student! I lived with 3 Chinese families, mainly in KL, but I also travelled to Malacca, Ipoh, Cameron Highlands, and a tiny uninhabited Island where I learned to scuba dive! I will have to get out my diaries again to relive my experiences! I know I went to more places than that! I have to say I hated rice for many years after I came home, as it was one of the few foods my unadventurous (and non pork eating!) little self would eat! However, now, I love rice again, and consider Malaysian & Thai cuisine to be my favourite! Luca loves it too! I am loving your blog! Well done! Siobhan. PS - Scott 7 I were 23 when we got married too! Great age!
ReplyDeleteI am soooo excited you have launched your BLOG.
ReplyDeleteXX Love and hugs and until we eat again.