Welcome to My Kitchen!
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As you might have guessed, Aki's Kitchen is a Canadian site. The .CA is a straight give away. And, from some of the recipes, such as Lamb Greek Style, you might have also figured out that I am of Greek descent. I was born in Canada, thirty-four years ago, and ever since the age of five, I became interested in cooking and baking. I am self-educated in these fields. In addition, it also helps to have a dad who used to work as a cook and chef, who offers me great "tricks" and techniques.
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It's All in a Name
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How did I come up with the name Aki's Kitchen? My given name at birth was Christos. As a young child, family and friends started to call me Christaki, especially when they wanted something of me: "Christaki, can you go over to the supermarket and get me some '?". During my teens, I was called Aki, dropping off the first part of my original name, and ever since then, people have always called me Aki. What better name to use for my web site.
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My Philosophy
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First of all, learning how to cook and bake should be enjoyable and educational, not dreadful. And, you should be proud of your small accomplishments, whether they are a simple gravy, or a Thanksgiving meal.
Secondly, acknowledge your mistakes and mishaps, and then learn from them. You learn by doing, not by reading about something. No one has ever been born with knowledge. Everything they know has been a learned and practised experience.
Thirdly, accept criticism from others, because it makes you a better cook. Whether it was a good, or bad critique, you always learn about your mistakes and successes from others' comments about your cooking and baking. However, if someone does ever say something negative about your cooking, and you know that you are in the right and they are not, then let it go by. Do not waste your time and effort thinking of a witty reply - it is not worth it! You have other things in your life that are more important - yourself. Always keep in mind that behind every negative remark lurks a bit of jealousy and malice. Some people are so insecure about themselves that they would prefer to blow out your light of accomplishments in order to obscure their overshadowing failures.
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Failure and Success
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I consider failure as not trying. If you have always wanted to do something and you sat around doing nothing about it, then you have not accomplished much. Right? But, if you have started and finished something, then you have succeeded, provided you are not putting anyone, including yourself, in danger.
Trying something and giving it your best shot is worth a lot more than just wondering about doing it. The truth of the matter is that practice, practice and practice makes better. If you have made a particular recipe and things did not work out as expected, do not become angry and depressed about it. There is always a logical explanation to why things went wrong. Most of the time it can be a single variable, or a combination of a few, such as: weather and high humidity levels; quality of ingredients, and sometimes your utility company was not providing your neighbourhood with enough power at that particular time. Sometimes, though, it can be a "bad day", when everything goes wrong. All of us have experienced this type of day and you are not alone. We are all human and nobody is immune to bad days.
It does, though, become frustrating when you have put a lot of time and effort into making a particular food that did not work out. Lets face it, though, there is more to life than cooking and baking. What do I mean? A family member could have been recently diagnosed with cancer. Or, the company you work for decided to downsize its work force and you are one of those unfortunate employees. What happens to your monthly mortgage payments or rent? How are you going to pay the other bills: electricity/gas, telephone and so on? How are you going to put food on the table for your family? It is a scary thought that we would not want to come true.
So you see, we all have problems and regardless of their severity, they are our own, which we each have to deal with in our own individual world. The last thing you need to hear is how you could not follow a simple recipe. If things do go wrong in the kitchen, do not allow them to bother you as much. Look back and see where things went wrong and you will find the answers.
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About Aki's Site
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From shopping to html coding, I do everything myself. I do get a bit of help from family and friends, because there is no such thing as a dynamo. I try to present things in way that a person, who wants to find out how to cook, would like to see them. I incorporate as much information as I see fit and I am able to do. Everything is explained to the smallest detail.
I avoid large graphics and fancy web effects, because sometimes they make downloading files seem an eternity. Special effects are not going to make you a better cook. Knowledge and information will - and this is what this site is all about.
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Pictures of the Foods
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The pictures of the finished foods you see in this web site represent one of the many ways in which a food can be served and not the way it has to be served. Use your imagination and creativity when it comes to serving the food you have made. Honestly speaking, I place the food on the plate, or the platter, just as you would, except I spend a little more time to make sure that the camera can capture every element. By the way, I do not use a food stylist, because it would not be fair to you.
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Breaking the Rules
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There are "Rules" and then there are "Universal Rules". Simple Rules, such as a meal menu, can be broken and inconsequential. The rule used to be to not serve various foods made with the same ingredients. Take for example, serving potato cheese puffs as appetizers and then mashed potatoes and gravy with a roast as the main meal. According to the rule, if your main meals will be served with mashed potatoes, then why serve appetizers that are made with mashed potatoes. This rule can be broken depending on your guests' tastes and preferences, or yours. If you know that one of your guests enjoys a particular food, then why not go ahead and make it for them, even if this means breaking the rules. My belief is to make foods which your family and friends, and yourself, enjoy eating.
Universal rules, on the other hand, cannot be broken. If they are, then you might have to pay the consequences. Take for example: chicken, turkey, quail, and any other type of game or poultry, has to be fully cooked before being eaten. These types of proteins cannot be served rare or medium, as you would, if you were cooking beef. Items such as these must be fully cooked to destroy the naturally occurring salmonella bacteria. If you break this rule, then the person(s) eating this food can become sick. If they are dealing with a chronic illness, it could lead to severe health complications and maybe even death. It is not worth it to take chances. Whatever you do, it is in everyone's best interest to respect and abide by the universal rules.
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