The two best cooks I'll ever know....

My inspiration to learn how to cook is driven by the two greatest cooks I know - my yiayia (greek grandma) and nonna (italian grandma). Both are amazing cooks in their own special ways.

I was named after my yiayia but unfortunately did not inherit her incredible cooking skills. This woman can cook anything, but especially nails the sweet stuff (cakes, biscuits, Greek sweets etc).

Her pancakes are to die for. I don't know how she does it but she makes them so perfect in size, so fluffy and so tasty!

The best thing about yiayia is that she can watch a cooking show on TV (she watches them all), see a recipe she likes, and make it the next day (without writing down any measurements). To top it off, she gets it right EVERY time. And if she doesn't, she get's creative and puts her own spin on the recipe. I think she really enjoys cooking and whatever she makes is always super tasty. She also tries to be quite healthy due to a kidney transplant she had years ago. She's pretty knowledgeable about nutrition.

 



Yiayia's pancakes



And again...

My nonna on the other hand, never ventures from the norm. She has her set meals and cooks them the same every time. They are amazing. Nonna mainly cooks savoury foods such as pasta, soups and meats. Her pasta sauce makes my heart sing (too bad I realised much of the delicious taste came from her overuse of salt) and her gnocci is the best on this planet. I've helped her make gnocchi many a time and hope to conquer it myself soon. It's a day task though and needs a few assistant chefs.

Nonna also loves the herb rosemary and uses it with chicken, pork and potatoes. She has passed down the love of this herb to me and I use it whenever I can. Another one of nonna's talents is making any veggies taste delicious. Now this is a real talent.

It's her tradition every Christmas to make 'crostoli' which is pretty much deep fried pastry coasted in sugar haha! But it's great and she makes BOXES full of them. This is also a day task where a few of the family are involved, especially now that she's finding it difficult to walk. That's why I love my nonna, she is the most determined woman I know.





Nonna's crostoli



I hope I can master the art of cooking like they do one day.....