Longing for 'Mom's Cooking'

I'm Takehara, and I work as a nursery school cook while also writing articles about food and SEO.

It's been a while since I've written on Note. I guess if I don't write, I won't get any better at it. So, I'm starting again. If I fail, I'll just start over from scratch.

Mom's cooking
Recently, I asked my fourth-grade daughter, 'What's your favorite dish that I make?' She replied, 'Hmm... nothing!' and I was quite shocked. Wait, nothing?! You could have at least said hamburger steak or omelet rice.

When I think about it, I was the same as my daughter.

'What is your favorite dish that your mother makes?'
If asked that, I'm the type who would say, 'Hmm...'

My mother couldn't really be called a good cook. I think she made various dishes for us. Even though she didn't really like meat, she made fried chicken and meat and potato stew for our family.

Nothing in particular left an impression. Since 'Mom's cooking' can also be called the taste of memories, I felt a bit sad that I couldn't recall it right away. I wonder what my mother would think if she heard that.

She was from the Tohoku region, and when she could get bracken, she would make natto soup. Maybe that is my 'Mom's cooking.' I've never had other natto soup, so I have nothing to compare it to, but the natto soup I drank as a child was delicious.

Returning to the story about my daughter, I started to think that maybe my cooking still isn't good enough. Is that the message she was sending? Even though, given my profession, I don't want to admit it.

When my son was in his final year of kindergarten, he was interviewed by a local radio station and asked, 'What is your favorite meal that your mom makes?'

'Oden!!'

It seems I still have a lot of room to polish my cooking skills.