Who am I?
My name is Patricia. Born and raised in Venezuela, I’ve lived an international life since my 20s. I love food! I love the flavors and smells, the experience of trying something new, and the pleasure of it. I have a teenage daughter (Sara) and have been a single mom for most of her life, while pursuing a professional career, so I keep a practical approach to everything I do.
Why 5 ingredients or less?
Remember when the first Wii came out? Microsoft and Sony were fighting for the fastest, most complex gaming system, but when everybody zigged, Nintendo zagged. They launched a system for the "casual gamer".
This is a blog for the "casual cook". Cooking is not something you need to become an expert at before you can enjoy it. (I think the same of dancing, but that’s another topic). It makes me sad when people get discouraged from cooking! You can start slow and easy, find some things you like to cook and eat, and work up to your comfort level.
Beyond that, dishes with five ingredients or less are important to me. The style of food that I grew up with is, high quality ingredients, good seasoning, and fire. When I look at a recipe or dish, I like to know the role of each ingredient in the dish, anything else feels like fluff.
My style of cooking
So, what can you expect of this blog?
I may not be very specific sometimes. If it doesn't matter what type of tomato you use, I will not specify one. Use what you have.
Where I grew up the style of cooking is: well seasoned, not spicy. If you like spicy food, experiment adding peppers and condiments.
I will try to balance special ingredients with common things you normally have at home.
My daughter has been vegetarian for a few years, so I will point out where you can make substitutions.
Sometimes I might go out of the 5-ingredient rule, but I’ll make up for it by keeping everything in one pot. Fair? Fair.
I’ve spent parts of my life in Venezuela, US and Italy, and with people from many other places, and I love different types of food. You’ll see me try things that are very common in some parts of the world, and very exotic where you live.
5 ingredients is a lifestyle
Honestly, 5 ingredients is my approach not only to cooking, but to parenting, work, travel, and many other things. Lo perfecto es enemigo de lo bueno (Perfect is the enemy of good). We are all trying to cook more at home, either because it’s healthier, because it’s cheaper, or in my case, because the restaurants around me have started to taste all the same. So let’s focus on the good instead of the perfect. My hope is that some of you will continue on the cooking path and “graduate” onto other blogs, books or videos. And also that some of you will start cooking at home one or two more times a week, and stay there, and feel happy that you are doing something good for you and your family.