Bokenpop aka Madeleine

About Me

I was born and raised in South Africa but now live in Maryland USA.

Since I can remember I have been cooking!

My first real cooking experience was when I was 7. I came home from school one afternoon and felt like french toast. My elder brother was home with his friends and did not want to make it, so I got a pan out, put it on the stove, turned the stove on to high. After that I could not remember what to do, but I knew that french toast involved bread so I put the bread in the hot pan without grease and poured milk over it! Oy vey...

My brother's friend asked me what I was trying to make and I told him. He laughed gently and told me I was making it wrong. So, he taught me that day how to make french toast. I came home every day after that and made french toast. I felt so condifent with the little bit of knowledge I had acquired that I soon started experimenting with other things. Nothing was going to stop me!

The first full meal I ever made for my family was boiled rice and oven roasted chicken pieces with a steamed vegetable medley. I was 8 years old and my mom was in hospital. My dad was struggling to hold down an intensely busy job, keep the family going and be with my mom, so I thought I would help him. I don't think he believed that I had done it. I remember telling him that I read in a cookery book of my mother's how to make a roast chicken but i did not know what a rosemary was so I just put the chicken in the dish. Much has changed since then.

I am an avid viewer of Top Chef and also the PBS channels. Now that we have Fios television, I like watching the cookery slots on the Fit channel as well as the recipe channel. Not so much food network anymore... same old, same old.