Milagros’ Pasteles
May 16, 2018
My Mother’s Hundred Year Eggs
October 3, 2018

Stories told at My Mother's Recipe

Behind the Scenes with Bev

Who taught you how to cook?
Nobody, I just grow up to love cooking. I remember in school the lady who worked in the canteen, her vein burst. I remember as a child, they took some girls from the classroom. I was small and tiny and the school said we want Bevany to run this and the teacher could not get over how a little girl like me could cook like that. That’s where it started from. Then for the rest of the week, I had to go every day and the following week the lady was home and I went that week too.

Do you have a big kitchen?
No. No, but I just want me alone in it. I don’t want anybody in there with me because it’s not big. You know I make the chicken dish, the rice and peas, and the lasagna. When I finish a certain dish I take it to the dining room because the space is not there. The rice and peas is the last thing I make so it’s nice and hot.

Do people at My Mother’s Recipe ask you for your recipes?
Yes. It’s simple I just tell them I can’t give them a recipe. Depending on how much I am making I just use my judgement. I don’t like it too spicy because it can burn people’s mouth. I use the whole grain noodles. I don’t use plain pasta and I buy the stuff from the farmers market; the carrots and the celery, string beans and all the peppers, all the bell peppers, the yellow the green and the red.

And when I coming by you I get up early in the morning and do all of that because I don’t like to cook things overnight put it in the fridge, take it out in the morning, warm it up and bring it. No. That’s why when I bring the food it’s still hot because I make it so that by the time Pete picks me and we get there everything is nice and hot.

When I come to My Mothers Recipe the old folks are always asking me did you bring the peas and rice and they want to know how I cook the vegetables. This little lady said she tried to cook it, but it doesn’t come out like mine. I told her you have to cook it separate. The carrot is a little hard so you have to cook it separate.

What’s the most rewarding thing about feeding people?
I see that they enjoy the food and tell me how good the food is. I like that. It makes it worth it. You know somebody here asked me for the recipe and I say “Sweetheart, I don’t really have no recipe. I just determine what I want in it or I don’t want in it.”

An interview with Bevany Byles as told to Thyme N. Haff

2018 May 18