[Translation] Myojo 0901 Shige -Aoi Hitorigoto- Vol. 31
This essay is so appropriate for mother's day :)
A cooking idol who appreciates his mom, what more can we ask for?
Vol. 31 -Flavor-
I have started to cook once in a while lately. I think it fundamentally has to do with my liking for creative activities. And of course, I can't deny my preconception that guys who can cook are cool has nothing to do with it. And I started to recall many things while I was cooking.
I think the first time I cooked was during home economics class in elementary school. Since we were just elementary school kids, I think the menu was always those simple yet delicious dishes like curry, hamburger and stir-fried vegetables. But because cooking by ourselves was something special in the first place, it was delicious no matter how badly it turned out in the end. In other words, I thought that as long as you cooked it yourself, it would always taste delicious.
At that time, I was attending cram school and because both my parents were working, dinner was always pre-prepared meals from the supermarket. On one of those days, my mother had to send me to cram school and at the same time drop off her friend who came over to our house that day, so the three of us got on the car together. Along the way, I got off the car at the supermarket we always frequent to buy the pre-prepared meals and my mother's friend said this when I returned to the car.
"Poor thing, you're always having food from the supermarket. You want to eat the bento prepared by your mom, right?"
And I'm certain I said this, "Not really. The food here is more delicious than Mom's cooking." At that time, there was some sarcasm in my words but half of it was my true feelings. I didn't thnk that the food my mom made in a hurry after coming home from work was delicious or awful. But since I already felt that way about my mom's just-cooked food, eating it cold in a bento was no different from the supermarket's pre-prepared food. This 'mother's flavor' or 'the family flavor' that they were always talking about on TV never made sense to me at all. Upon hearing my words, my mother showed a sad face and after that said with a forced laugh, "What a mean child~" Even though I was just a child then, I remember thinking that what I said was a little too harsh.
After this, I enrolled into junior high school and started to eat bento prepared by my mom, but I never made any special requests except to occasionally tell my mom not to put in food that I dislike. But when I graduated from high school, my mother quit her job and became a full-time housewife. I don't know if it was because of that or that I become a gourmet, but I just suddenly started to feel that my mom's cooking is delicious. I began to like my mom's cooking. Now, when I'm asked about my mom's flavor, four or five dishes come to mind.
When I first started to cook, I also started from curry, hamburger and stir-fried vegetables just like in elementary school. But recently I tried to reproduce the dishes that my mom cooks. Kinpira gobou. [Note: Strips of burdock root and carrot fried and boiled down in sugar and soy sauce] I looked up the recipe from the internet and referred to it while I cooked. (I felt a little embarrassed to ask my mom) I was full of confidence while I was cooking and enjoyed myself.
No matter what, it's delicious as long as I cooked it myself.... or so it was supposed to be. But that kinpira gobou. When I ate it, it wasn't delicious. No, it wasn't awful but it was different from Mom's flavor. Even though it was supposed to be a reproduction of it, it was totally different. When I cooked it for my friends, they said it was delicious but the kinpira gobou that my mom makes is even better. Even for such a simple dish, my cooking was a far cry from my mom's flavor.
That's when I thought, I can't cook better than my mom. No, I am not supposed to cook better than her. As long as she is my mom, a mom's flavor is something that only a mother can achieve.
Sorry, mom. I'll correct those words I said that time. Mom's cooking is still better than the pre-prepared meals from the supermarket, no, it's better than any other cooking.
[Note: He used kansai dialect in the last paragraph so maybe he speaks kansai dialect with his mom?]
~*~*~*~*~*~*~
Thanks for reading
Sidenote: I can't reply PMs if you have your privacy options turned on with no other options for contact ^^;;