MonkeyPants

Spaghetti, Western Style.

Yesterday I did some tutoring I’ve never done before.

I gave a cooking lesson.

Young Mi mentioned last week that her daughters love spaghetti, but that she didn’t know how to make it. Not surprising, really. She is a working mother who had housekeepers in Korea. Now that she’s an enforced Laydee of Leisure here, she’s going nuts, so she is learning to cook.

I brought all the ingredients over and we went through the steps in the recipe, writing it down. I’ve never written down a spaghetti sauce recipe, and I kept correcting myself with all the little steps, like turning the heat down. For me, it’s automatic.

We looked at all the ingredients. Young Mi’s translator didn’t have ‘oregano’, so I got her to smell it, to see what it was. Oregano smells like oregano, right? Not if you’ve never smelled it before. I could see her thinking, “This must be a delicacy.” Because Korean recipes, a few of which she knows, don’t really use the stuff.

Anyway, Young Mi and her husband worked together in the kitchen under my direction until the pot was simmering happily.

“You have lunch here?” Hong suggested. he pointed to the pot.
I shook my head. “This is for dinner. You have to cook it for an hour at least. Two is better. Three or four is best.” I pointed to the pot. “This is for dinner with you and your daughters.”

I really hope it turned out well.