I am a 26-year old Brazilian girl who has always been very enthusiastic about food. I can remember the days when my mum would rule the kitchen and I would always be around, hoping to get a bowl with some dough leftovers to taste. I always got to watch my mum cooking, even when I got kicked out of the kitchen before the delicious 'bowl-licking' time.
As a child, I loved to read and play by myself, pretending I was both the teacher and the students in a classroom. Maybe that explains why I have never been able to work with anything else other than with kids in schools and kindergartens, even after I had graduated as a journalist. I can also remember I loved playing with my kitchen equipment and every time I was visiting my dad, I got to play with real bread dough that my grandma would prepare. Once I ate too much of the raw dough she had given me before I even had the chance to play with it. And I got sick afterwards, very sick. That was probably the first learned lesson: raw dough can be tasted, but don't try to feed yourself on it. I can assure you my belly wasn't the same for many days after the incident..
When I think back on my childhood, I can probably tell many stories, good and funny ones, but what I can think of the most are all those different types of amazing smells that would come from the kitchen. And it is almost like I can smell them right now...
As a teenager, I started cooking for real. Most of the things I tried to make were with no recipe, just out of my 'experience' as a kitchen watcher. Once, when I was about 13, I told my mum I would like to make her a special dinner. I then cooked a whole Asian inspired meal and, when she asked me where I had learned how to cook that, I told her it was all in my head. After this day, what once was our kitchen, became more and more my place. And, for that, I am happy. Very, very happy.
My mum, friends and Ken, my lovely boyfriend, are the ones that have really encouraged me along the way. For me, having beloved ones sitting around a table tasting what you spent some time preparing, is one of the most cheerful experiences I can have. Of course I have also been influenced by TV programs, food blogs and, obviously, cookbooks - one of the things (apart from chocolate) to which I am extremely addicted to.
All I know about cooking today is due to many successful and disastrous experiences in the kitchen. I can humbly say that I don't know one tenth of what I would really like to know by now, but I am sure that the art of cooking and enjoying food is a long-lasting and rewarding experience for the ones that, like me, dare trying.
Enjoy!
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