Welcome to My Mother's Kitchen

 

Lessons from My Mother's Kitchen
How Everyday Meals Taught Me About Life, Love, Learning, and Leadership

 

Welcome to My Mother's Kitchen

by Ms. Eugenia C. Martin

Over the weekend, we found ourselves craving familiar comfort foods—arroz caldo, pancit canton, tokwa't baboy, and palitaw. It was another one of those planned stay-at-home weekends, spent overseeing a few home improvement projects in preparation for the rainy season.

My husband eagerly headed to the market and returned with bags filled with fresh ingredients. As we unpacked the vegetables, meat, spices, and rice, memories of my mother's kitchen came rushing back.

What began as a weekend cooking project soon became a journey through memories.

As a child, I spent countless hours watching my Nanay Etang prepare meals. I followed her around the kitchen, asking questions, observing her methods, and occasionally volunteering to help. Whenever I asked how something was done, she patiently let me watch or guided my hands through the process.

Whenever I asked why she did things a certain way, however, her answer was often simple: "Basta." (It just is). I believed her.

Years later, I realized that many of those "basta" moments contained lessons far beyond cooking. Hidden behind every recipe were principles of science, economics, aesthetics, psychology, stewardship, and love.

This series is my attempt to revisit those lessons and discover the wisdom hidden in ordinary moments inside my mother's kitchen.

JOIN ME as I share stories of nilaga, cabbage, broth, kitchen mistakes, family meals, and the three simple words that perhaps best describe a mother's love: "Kain na tayo." (Let us eat).

 

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Eugenia C. Martin (Ms. Eugene) is a Registered Guidance Counselor, Licensed Professional Teacher, wife, mother, songwriter, gardener, and home cook. Her life's lessons have come from many classrooms—the school, the counseling room, her parents' kitchen, the family garden, and the backyard shoe-making business where she first learned the values of perseverance, entrepreneurship, and community. Through her writing, she reflects on mental health, parenting, education, relationships, faith, music, gardening, and the everyday experiences that shape who we become.