The Internet has changed the way we learn. There is no doubt about it. There are people who have learnt to swim before entering the sea. I knew someone who loved to swim. She would be the first person swimming in the sea when we went to the beach. The amazing thing is that she came from a place where there were no beaches. She practised the strokes and the breathing on land, and learnt the principles of swimming. She said the first time she went into the sea, she could swim. I met her when she was already a senior citizen, and I had never seen a person who loved swimming so much. I am digressing. Ok, back to cooking.

Recently, a friend told me about the beef Wellington she had one Sunday, cooked by a dentist who learnt to cook it on the internet. It was the first time he cooked it, and it turned out very well. There are very good cooking website and YouTube videos. One challenge with using videos online is language. Some of the best cooks for particular cuisines might speak in their own language, and some explanations might be lost in translation. I love videos of chefs who travel the world over to find the best dishes of each province, town or city. You can learn so much about people and culture. I remember having dinner at a restaurant in Chianti (Italy) with my mother. As we were leaving, we discovered that the restaurant manager who went around greeting all the guests was Canadian. He told my Canadian friend not to tell anyone. She told me, of course. He didn’t want to spoil everyone’s fun. We all thought he was a local of the village. The world is a wonderful place when we talk about common interests and things that bring us joy.

When I was in Spain a couple of years ago, someone asked if I would like to go to Graus, a village famous for “longaniza” and black truffle, for “merienda” which I understood as tea. I discovered that “tea” consisted of beer and tapas. The world is full of surprises when you travel. It helps to read up a bit beforehand, especially to know what to order when the menu is in a foreign language. I had a tough time wandering around Shanghai alone on a Saturday when I was on a business trip. The menus were all in Chinese (at that time). The safest place to go was McDonald’s. The other days when I was with my colleagues, I was very well taken care of, and was treated to a variety of cuisines in different cities of China.

I hope the recipes in this blog will inspire you to cook. I will also refer to recipes on the internet which I have tried and would like to recommend. There are some food bloggers who are following this blog, who are much more qualified to write about food. I would like to thank them for being so encouraging.

I will be putting recipes up gradually, so please check the recipes page from time to time.

By Chayo, Homskil Editor 1, 26 January 2021