Adventures in the kitchen: ‘Meals bring family together’

MANILA, Philippines – When it comes to making a family’s day a whole lot better, nothing beats a home-cooked meal.

Think of your kids’ favorite dishes and how it always made them smile. After a full day of exams at school, they looked forward to their reward of a steaming dish of afritada. When they won their first game, you invited the whole team over for a celebratory dinner, featuring your caldereta, which was everyone’s favorite as well.

Amidst the stressful, fast-paced times that we live in today, the ritual of coming home and eating as a family is still the best way to strengthen your bond.

Here are the stories of 3 moms who know this, and have wielded the power of home-cooked meals to bring their families closer.

The working mom

Aenelle Dizon, 45, is a dermatologist and mother of 3. Like most working moms, life can get a little crazy for Aenelle as she juggles family time with attending to clients in her 3 clinics.

Despite her busy schedule, she still makes it a point to cook for her family as much as she can. They also have dinner together every night.

Since Aenelle’s kids are still young (her eldest is 12 years old), they have big appetites and enjoy savory dishes.

Aenelle says: “Every time I have a free schedule from my clinics and the kids are all there, I try to prepare dishes that are easy to cook, but at the same time they will enjoy. They like tomato-based pasta but they love caldereta the most – most of the time, I make lamb caldereta,” she says. “The kids’ meals normally have rice and they love mixing it with the sauce.”

Aenelle’s advice to other working moms is to make time for the kids, no matter what. “You cannot really say that you don’t have time for something. It’s just a matter of prioritizing,” she says. “For example, if there’s a school activity, but I also have a schedule at the clinic, of course I would go to the school activity first and adjust the clinic time instead. It’s really time management and setting your priorities.”

The home-based mom

When Yelly Lee learned she was pregnant with their first child, she and her husband decided that she would let go of her day job to be able to focus and spend more time with their kids. Today, aside from being active in church activities, the 39-year-old devotes most of her time to homeschooling her 2 children.

Being a “full-time” mom is a tough job in itself and Yelly is actually busier now than she’s ever been.

At home, Yelly uses cooking as a hands-on approach when it comes to teaching different subjects and even practical habits. Simple kitchen procedures, such as how to measure ingredients and prepare them safely, become lessons in math or science. Enjoying the meals become a session on proper table manners.

Whenever her kids help out with her cooking, their favorite dish to prepare is almondigas, which has meatballs and tomato sauce. “They like it when they get to roll the meatball and they enjoy the process,” Yelly explains. 

Through their kitchen lessons, Yelly’s kids also learn to be more responsible and empowered. “It’s also our way of saying ‘I’m trusting you even if you’re little kids and you can contribute to our family’s enjoyment,’” she says. “They’re so proud of themselves when our cooking tastes good. Sometimes they even say, ‘I want to be a chef in the future’ or ‘Let’s put up a restaurant.’ All because of that simple involvement of letting them put the egg or put the sauce or mix it.”

The long-distance mom

For Joji Santos–Ferrer, family is everything. As 3 of her children are now living independently, the 55-year-old mom makes sure that her kids always have something to look forward to when they’re at home. These days, when the whole family is back in Bukidnon for the holidays, Joji relies on her trusty recipes to ensure a delicious welcome for her kids.

She recalls: “Ever since I was a young wife and mother, I have always loved collecting the Kitchenomics recipes. In fact, I compiled them in clear folders before and collected a few of the recipe books.” Joji would usually improvise or put her own spin on these recipes, depending on her and her family’s taste.

Every time she gets the chance to cook for her kids, Joji gets busy preparing their all-time favorite dishes and desserts. “I make sure at least twice or thrice a week, I cook for dinner, especially when I can find good cuts of beef and special cuts like ox tail, tongue, tripe or goat meat,” she says.

She can whip up familiar dishes like menudo, mechado, caldereta, arroz ala cubana, callos and pochero, but her family loves her special lengua estofado the most. Her youngest daughter, Jannah, says that it’s her personal favorite simply because it tastes so good. “When she makes it, especially when we’re all together on special occasions, it’s gone in a minute. It’s that good,” Jannah says. Joji makes the sauce extra special by adding ingredients that her kids love, like pineapple tidbits and honey.

Joji is more than proud of what her children has and will become in the future. In the meantime, she continues to experiment in the kitchen and can’t wait for the next time she brings her children together in one roof.

#ComeHome

Though they have different backgrounds and experiences, these 3 moms, in their own way, know how to make things work. From Aenelle’s hectic schedule, to Yelly’s responsibility of managing both the home and education of her kids, to Joji who now has children living independently – each mom makes time for good food and conversations over shared meals, no matter what.

Now, it’s your turn to tell us: how have home-cooked meals brought you and your family closer together?

Read on to what people had to say about what excites them to #ComeHome and why home cooked meals go beyond just sharing meals with loved ones.

– Rappler.com