Dad’s cooking lesson … Lasagna and Baked Cauliflower

Yesterday, my father who is 79 years old, asked me to teach him to cook his favourite dishes for Sunday brunch … lasagna and baked cauliflower. I had verbally given him the recipe some time ago but he wanted to watch me cook it too.

He went shopping yesterday and got all the ingredients together with two new baking dishes, perfect for baking his favourite meal.

As promised I walked over to his house (he lives across the road from me) at 9 am and started our lesson. He had

everything ready so we could cook up a storm whilst we chatted about the clinics and his week.

Dad retired 3 years ago. He found retirement both liberating (he had worked as a dentist for 50 years!) and incredibly boring! He doesn’t play any sports other than table tennis. He hates golf so spends his time window shopping and reading at Borders in MidValley Mega Mall, as it gets him out of the house.

Cooking was something he wanted to learn … it made perfect sense to him as he was kind of particular (an understatement this is!) about what he eats. He likes European food but didn’t want to eat out all the time. His latest acquisition is a Tefal oven that steams food too whilst it baked so as to keep the food moist.

Dad cut up the onions and garlic for the meat sauce and watched as I made the cheesy white sauce, making sure he remembered what to do.

As the lasagna baked, we talked about his passion … travel, Qui Kong, nutrition and his next cruise.

Before long we heard the oven ‘ding’…. Brunch was ready!

It is just amazing that I can have this time with my Dad … I have the most wonderful relationship with him. He is not just my Dad … he is my friend.