All the way from my youth to middle age, everyone who met me for the first time, especially foreigners, assumed that I loved cooking. They were shocked whenever I told them that I couldn't fry an egg. I remember three, among them Jim Callahan, who insisted that I was lying and that I was a good cook but didn't want others to know it.

At 64 going on 65 I became challenged to learn cooking to feed my family. There really was no other choice, since I don't want to have any kind of servant in the house. I find that I am enjoying cooking immensely. What is most surprising to me is that, unlike in my writing and in my painting, I avoid innovations and fusions. I love Filipino dishes the way they are cooked traditionally, and I am unable to appreciate the slightest deviation from the classic recipes.