It occurs to me that I should note two specific things when I talk about cooking: not all ingredients are available in the Philippines; and, sometimes I get help when I am cooking. The first thing is rather self-explanatory. A whole year went by where I couldn't find goldfish crackers for my kids. Dairy products are particularly difficult, because Filipinos don't consume remotely the same amount that Americans do, so they generally don't locally produce sour cream or buttermilk. As for the second thing, I have two full-time helpers: a house keeper and a nanny, but the nanny also does some cooking. A lot of times I have her do "sous-chef" work for me. Recently, I made chicken tikka-masala, and I'd asked her to chop the cilantro for me. When I went into the kitchen to start the meal, I found everything I needed, measured out in individual containers, like I was working on a cooking show. And then, I rarely have to do the dishes otherwise.
I won't go into a lot of detail explaining why having household help isn't the answer to all of your problems (it is the answer to a lot of them, but when your kids have to go an entire year without seeing grandparents, you realize that there are tradeoffs for everything).
Nonetheless, I'll try to be specific about both (ingredients and help) when I talk about things I've made.
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