Our new tenant is a foreign student from China. She’s 19 years old and has been in Canada for only 4 months. She has no family here, and is completely alone here other than a few friends she’s made through her homestay family that she lived with for the first few months.
When she first moved in, she asked if I’d mind taking her shopping when I did my shopping, as she has no car. Since I tend to shop several times a week, I said sure. The first night I was home after she moved in though, she came to ask if I would mind her watching me cook dinner – she doesn’t know how to cook and she wanted to learn. I was surprised, but agreed – she’s a sweet girl, and why not?
The next day, I took her shopping, and helped her pick out some basic foods – she had bread, milk, cereal, eggs, fruit, etc. when she moved in, but she bought things like jam, waffles, more fruit & vegetables, a little meat. When I started asking her a few more questions, I found out how little she really knows about cooking – she didn’t know how to use the toaster.
This is completely foreign to me – I grew up learning how to cook. I was in Brownies/Girl Guides. I took cooking through 4H. I took Home Ec. in junior high. I mean, I know how to cook! And I’ve been cooking for more than 25 years, so I’ve gotten reasonably good at it too. I can’t imagine being completely alone in a strange country and not having the basic survival skills needed to prep a meal.
So over the next few weeks, I’ll be helping her learn to cook some basic foods. Scrambled eggs, baked potatoes, roasted fish and chicken. Simple, filling foods that are both good tasting and good for you. But it really drove home to me how much I take for granted some of the things my mother taught me young. I grew up watching her cook, and shop the flyers to get the best deals. I remember her re-purposing leftovers into other meals, and making “breakfast for dinner” (pancakes or eggs) to have a fast, frugal meal. When I moved out on my own for the first time, I bought real food – chicken to bake, potatoes, pasta and sauce. Sure, I’ve used a lot of convenience foods at times – sometimes the extra cost is worth it for the time you’ll save (pre-shredded cheese, pre-cut veggies, heat & eat rice). I still do sometimes. But the thought of having to live on cereal and toaster waffles, or restaurant food – no thanks. And yes, I know I don’t have to do this – but really, it’s not a huge inconvenience for me, and I feel kind of bad for her. How can I not share what I know?
Her situation has made me think hard about the skills I’ve taught my own kids. My 16 year old son isn’t a fantastic cook, but he can handle the basics – quesadillas, soup, pasta & sauce, kraft dinner, grilled cheese (he’s allergic to eggs, so no eggs for him). Not super nutritious, but he’d survive until he figured out how to cook more. My youngest is only 10, but it’s time to start teaching him too. Having some basic abilities in the kitchen is a must, and that’s been driven home to me over the last few days. So I guess over the next little while, I’ll be holding some impromptu cooking classes in my kitchen.
Do you know how to cook? When did you learn? What other “basic” skills do you take for granted?
I guess I’ve just always known the basics. I had a single mom who worked full-time and was our brownie leader/soccer coach (etc!) so she needed as much help in the kitchen as she could get. We’d peel potatoes, stir pots, chop veggies, etc.
that’s how I grew up too – my mom wasn’t a single mom, but she always worked, so she & my dad shared kitchen duties, and I grew up helping. It’s so hard to start from scratch showing her how to do the basic things like turning on the stove top!
That’s so nice of you to let her pretty much shadow you. I think this is something that is taken for granted, as surely she definitely appreciates this from you. I cook, but I am not a good cook from scratch.
I’m happy to do it, and it’s funny – she and my youngest son are hanging out so much, he’s learning too. double win!
I can feel for your tenant (and how awesome that you’re teaching her!) because I never really learned to cook. My grandmother taught me a few basics like how to fry chicken, which is a survival skill in the south, but my mom never really did. I got married at 19 and didn’t know how to do much more than make grilled cheese or scrambled eggs. My mom is an excellent cook, but she just never felt it necessary to show my sister and me how to replicate what she does. It was a HUGE disadvantage and now at nearly 30 I’m trying to make up for it! I think what you’re doing is a wonderful thing – your tenant will use the lessons she learns from you for the rest of her life.
It;s funny, I was thinking about you when I wrote this post because I remember when you first started trying to buy groceries and cook more at home. Since I enjoy cooking and love teaching/coaching, it’s a good fit.
It’s really great idea you’ll help her with learning the basics! It can be funny and nice experience for both of you so let us know how it’ll go. I cook but I wouldn’t participate in a new season of “Top Chef”
I like cooking but still make some mistakes. The real challenge for me is baking (cakes, cookies, muffins, etc.) so when I make something which is eatable and tasty, I’m so proud of myself then 
I still have moments like that! I’m good in the kitchen with basic foods, but don’t make a lot of fancy dishes. When I try something new that I’m unsure of, or something goes right that I’ve never been able to make before (like homemade Yorkshire pudding, or even Turkey soup!), I’m still thrilled.
Wow how fun, teaching someone the basics! I went vegetarian at age 13 and my mom’s reaction was, “fine, but I’m not going to cook something special for you,” which morphed into, “well, as long as you’re cooking your own stuff, here’s a cookbook, and you should start cooking for all of us” so that by the time I was 14, I was cooking 4-5 meals a week for our family. It made me LOVE cooking today.
I did a lot of cooking for my parents around that age too – they were both working full time, and if I cooked, it meant dinner was on the table by 6 as opposed to 7.
I am not that great of a cook. I manage but I don’t actually enjoy the process. I’d much rather write or do a crafty project. My husband, on the other hand, absolutely loves to create things in the kitchen. He’s taught me almost everything I know, but I’m totally inferior when it comes to most food related things!
Cooking isn’t for everyone – my husband hates it too. We share household chores differently because of that. I do most of the cooking, he does a lot of the cleaning and laundry. It works.
I’m a pretty bad/lazy cook. I just don’t have or want the time to do it, therefore I never really learned. I can make some basic things and can whip out a dinner for 4 if I have to (homemade pesto linguini), but nothing fancy. My dream is to marry a guy who not only loves to cook, but is good at it too. I’m more of a cleaning type person.
Ooooo – want to get married?? I hate cleaning! LOL… I understand completely. While I love cooking, I’ll do just about anything to get out of cleaning, especially bathrooms.
I can cook but I find that for me to cook I a) have to want to and b) it needs to be extensive, able to be left alone or have lots of steps. Or I tend to burn things. Like bacon–it needs me to stand at the stove monitoring it and I usually get impatient, turn up the heat or start doing something else. It burns. But if you tell me to make you a fried chicken dinner with mashed potatoes and corn and a salad? I’m golden. Same for baking. I do really well with it because I can do other things.
I prefer to make things that aren’t terribly fussy – if I can drop in in a crock pot and leave it for hours, I’m happy!