Behind the name Lady Spatula, I am a mother and wife who loves books, coffee and of course, food.
I started this blog to create space to store all my favorite recipes that have become a staple in my household and cater to the recipe requests and inquiries received from my supportive family, friends and social media circle.
Growing up amongst four other sisters (no brothers!), we were a typical Arab family - loud! We were blessed with a mother whose reputation in the kitchen preceded her, and being from a predominantly female family, we were always teased about our “cooking” skills and asked whether we possessed our mom’s natural talents. Not that this concerned me at the time as most of my trips to the kitchen were for snacks!
Then I met my future husband and I realized that we both had an interest in food, not just with eating it, but with the process. We found ourselves devouring a meal and trying to guess how it was made so we can replicate it when we got home. That was how my journey began.
I found myself standing in my small kitchen surrounded by all the cooking appliances and utensils with a feeling of dread. What if I made him something and it sucked? The feminist in me screamed, “Who cares?! He’ll just have to deal with it!”, but the wife in me was slightly worried about not living up to expectations, given my mother’s great legacy.
It began with long calls to my mom, as she talked me through dishes step by step. Some were an immediate success, others took a little longer to perfect, but little by little, one recipe at a time, I found that I actually had a knack for cooking. Not only was I seemingly good at it, but I enjoyed it and I had the patience for its process. I started experimenting with recipes, old and new.
A lot of the recipes I have on here are recipes adapted from incredibly talented people around the world, who have, in one way or another, taught me how to cook through their websites. I make sure to acknowledge them and link to their sites every time. Other recipes were handed down to me from my mother. Then there are those few recipes, in which something magical happens in the kitchen and I create something new and delicious.
As my family grew by three, I find I have less time to spend in the kitchen, so I’ve had to teach myself to be quick and efficient when necessary. My husband and I also play a game of kitchen tag when one of us isn’t up for the task and there are days when neither one of us is up for it, and we end up ordering in (we all have those days!).
And so, Lady Spatula came to be. I’m still learning as I go, I still make mistakes and I still call up my mom for recipes and for kitchen emergencies. I hope I can inspire others like myself to venture into cooking and perhaps even find enjoyment in it, as I did.
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Lady Spatula
Suad Shamma