The quarantine has recently made me reflect (and acknowledged) how I was raised… and all this is thanks to moments I am able to cook once more.

I started watching cooking shows and arts and craft shows when I was young. I did this with my mom who loves arts and crafts and cleans our home amazingly well with all the added home improvements. I even looked forward to cooking shows in the past such as The Nora Daza cooking shows and even Wolfgang Puck. But more like my mom, my dad was also this “home improvement” guy with his sometimes weird ideas of how to fix things (which he does) and even his ability to just do about anything (from cooking to gardening). Now, in this time of quarantine, I never thought such inputs from them would kick in.

With me staying at home for a month, and my plans to do some cleanup, I found myself doing some cooking. I though cooking has been one of the things I’ve forgotten considering most cooking here at home is done by my brother or my dad. But recently, I have been doing pancakes, giving it a twist, doing a few patties, making soups, and doing sweet and sour dishes using my mom’s recipe (which she taught me and which I usually cook when we were living in Manila to care for my grandmother).

I’ve got a few cooking tips and tricks, basic as they may seem, but has helped in doing ensuring we have healthier meals compared to our usual not-so-healthy eats. There’s also the means to ensure the food isn’t just for lunch but can reach till dinner time. I’ve also gotten interested in gardening especially with the need to sustain food since we have limited time to go outside for grocery (plus people tend to hoard recently)… and I’ve started looking at the house as if every nook and cranny needs to be cleaned from time to time (even my mom’s way of arranging stuff).

What my parents taught me and my siblings were not just for discipline’s sake but became keys to sustain us. Basic as it may seem, such exposure led us to realizing the importance of gardening, cooking healthier meals, and even reading books. This quarantine, I got myself to enhance my mobile photography and editing as well as my desire to learn additional skills. These are but some of what kept my hands full during quarantine.

My law studies has somewhat made me more conscious of time that I had to step back from doing some stuff at home and even this blog. I haven’t even painted nor did any calligraphy, nor even do journaling. But the quarantine did more since I have some freed up time. I decided to jump right ahead into doing not only what I have missed but also serve here at home…

While the reason behind the quarantine made me worry about life and even the safety of my family, I must admit that this time at home made me appreciate more the simple things in life. Back then I thought what my parents were imparting us was mere chores but who would have thought I’d be more than willing to do those once again and even share it on a Facebook page I am currently managing.

I hope that during this moments, we would reflect and see how blessed we are to be at home, safe, and even able to do what we have missed on doing due to lack of time. Not everyone is handling this well and even worries about survival. I pray you don’t miss out on this opportune time to do what you need to do — one that can be considered a hopeful contribution to mankind… CHEERS TO THE BETTER YOU during this QUARANTINE SEASON…