Famlily Album

My mother’s name is Ofelia Plascencia; she was born April 2nd, 1958 in Guadalajara, Jalisco. She is the oldest child out of eight brothers and sisters. My mother always claims that she never enjoyed her childhood. As soon as she was old enough to take care of her brothers and sisters, her parents went off to work. She had a lot of responsibilities in the house which included watching the kids, changing the dippers, cleaning the house, doing laundry, and cooking meals. She enjoyed cooking the most. I believe this is how she became an excellent cook.

When my mom first began to cook she did not have a clue what to do. She couldn’t even boil water for the beans because the water would evaporate into the air. My grandfather would get furious because my mom would not have supper ready before he would get home. My grandmother was never present in the house she would work from five o’clock in the morning to ten at night. My grandfather, Jose, taught my mother how to cook when he decided to work from home. He built a room near the kitchen to watch the kids and to give my mom cooking instructions. The first recipes that my mom mastered were breakfast meals. She was able to cook eggs in different ways. One day she would do scramble eggs, another over easy, or she would just cut vegetables and meat to cook with the eggs.

As my mother got older, she began to have an interest in different cooking styles. She was interested in finding new recipes and trying them out. When she would drop off her brothers and sisters at school, she would stay and chat with other ladies about new recipes she could explore. While exploring others recipes, she began to create her own unique way of cooking. For example, she took the ordinary beef lasagna and twisted its flavors by adding shrimp instead of meat and different kinds of vegetables. Ever since that recipe, she developed a sense of creativity with food.

Now my mother has become my family's cooking expert. She loves watching the food channel and always thinks about something new. I once dreamed that my mother was about to die in the hospital. She seemed to be in intensive care and I all of sudden told her she couldn’t die without giving me all of her recipes. Since that dream, I created my own recipe book. Everyday during the summer, I would write down the meals she would serve for the family. Those many years of cooking has always brought the entire family together to enjoy each others company with a delicious meal.

My mother Ofelia still is a great cook but aging always catches up to everyone, and she will soon forget or will be unable to cook all the delicious recipes she has created. This is why I believe it is important to be to be taught her famous recipes, so I can pass them on to future generations. One day I wish to publish her scrumptious recipes.