Starting a new life in Melbourne

Why I cook

Early in my life I realised that cooking was a way to make people happy.   I think I was about nine when I made my first jam cookies for my brothers from a recipe out of a children’s magazine.  The joy I received from their compliments and the rest of the family was indescribable at the time.  It would be many, many years later that I would realise that my language of love would be “Words of Affirmation” and cooking  and entertaining was one of the ways for me to receive the pleasure and feeling of love that I appreciated.

Young students in love

Through the years I experimented in the family kitchen but it was as a poor student in Melbourne that I learned how to create good meals out of nothing.  It’s amazing how creative you can be with a can of SPAM.  And regardless of how little we had, we still managed to put together a good party and feed everyone.   

On the AFL Grand Final day in 1981, my flat mate and I decided to host a house warming party for our friends.  It was our first home outside living with our parents so we were feeling very “grown up” about it all.  I spent the whole day in the kitchen cooking and it was that night, through a haze of catch up drinking, that I met a young engineering student that I would end up marrying years later.  Andrew will always say that I wooed him through his stomach as I cooked for him whenever the budget allowed and introduced him to the family recipes which are still favourites in our household today.

Taking the big leap

One of the difficult decisions about moving to Australia to be married at the tender age of 23 was the fact that I would be leaving behind my family, in particular my mum.  This was in the early 80’s when snail mail was our main way of keeping in touch and you only really called long distance when you had an emergency.  Needless to say I made sure that before I left I got as many recipes as I could from my mum so I could survive and not miss the comfort of home cooking.  And through the years, memories of my mother’s graciousness as a hostess, drove me to try and emulate her hospitality and open my kitchen to friends and family.

I may not always love the work that goes into getting ready for a party, but I love the whole enjoyment that the sharing of time, food and company that a party provides.  It’s an opportunity to share in so many ways and keep traditions alive for the next generation.  

Having come from a big extended family who are very wide spread around the world, Facebook has become a wonderful way for us to keep in touch with the ever changing landscape that our family is.  We are only half way through 2012 and we have already had two new additions and are expecting two more within the next couple of months.

My cousins from around the world congregating in Malacca in 1993

Over my 27 years in Melbourne, many of my cousins have migrated to Australia as well so we have created our own little “kampong” (village) in the North Eastern suburbs of Melbourne, meeting often over a spread of delicious home cooked meals.  It is heart warming to see our children growing up together and having that same feeling we used to have when we congregated as a family in my youth.

15 years later in Melbourne and the cousins now have children of their own
(Family vs In-Laws rounders/cricket match Dec 2008)

At the end of the day we love, we argue, we eat, we play, we give, we are loud, we are opinionated, we are strong, we are judgemental, we are fun and MOST of all we are FAMILY.