For some reason, I have absolutely no interest in cooking Malay food. I'm fine with other types of food like Italian, Mediterranean or Western. The bottom line is I hate complicated recipes, and Malay recipes fall into this category.

Some people naturally get how to cook i.e. my other three sisters. It's like, they watch my mom throw in some ingredients in the pan and they immediately have the list seared on their brains for some mysterious reason. If I'm the one beside my mom, I just stare blankly at what she's preparing, I stir the pot when she asks me to, peel the onions till I cry, get out the various spices she asked for but none of the methods stick in my mind. The only thing that I got out after (let's see) close to 20 years helping her out is how to size the serving she's cooked up to the container to serve out later. Pathetic? Tell me about it.

I've gained a reputation as the dish-washer and the clean up lady in the house but not for being a good cook. My littlest sister's awesome at baking. Anything she cooks up tastes even better than my mom's cooking. My big sister's cooking is an exact match of my mom's and the sister below me pretty much follows my big sister's footsteps in that area.

So tell me what in the high heavens happened to me?!

I'm not a big fan of rice, which probably explains my lack of enthusiasm in cooking the various dishes that go with it. Unlike some people (a.k.a. dad) who can't live a second without it.

I LOVE bread. So I'm really good at making sandwiches. If I had all the ingredients Subway had access to, I wager I'd make a meaner sub than they will ever think to do. I totally love tuna and cold cuts. I'm all about FAST food. Something you can whip up in a matter of minutes without having to bust your brains out when it comes to delving out that complicated recipe.

Once in a blue moon, I'd get the urge to cook something and then I'll turn on my boombox and start cookin' but until then, I avoid the kitchen like the plague. (ESPECIALLY when mom's in there)

Referring to Ita's article (Salahkah perempuan xtau masak? - Komen), in our society, women are not really women if they don't know how to cook because that's what makes us what we are. Yeah right. Who says? All the top chefs are guys (hard for me to admit but it's true)

I feel it's so unfair to judge women on the basis of their cooking. It's like this popular Malay saying, if you know how to cook you're ready for marriage.

How depressing. It's not like our husbands will starve if we don't feed them right? Haha.

To me, if a guy really loves his wife, he wouldn't expect her to break her back in the kitchen everyday trying to cook him a meal. Especially if the wife has a career and has been at the office and has had to manage the kids before stepping out to the office as well, which is more than I can say about the husband. He's the one who should be cooking for her! At the least, the task should be equally shared. Today I cook, tomorrow it's your turn.

Now that's fair.