???? The Culinary Story of Kathy Grimme
???? The Culinary Story of Kathy Grimme
I grew up in an advertising photography studio, so my interest in food probably began with seeing picture-perfect dishes all the time. Most of them, you couldn’t eat because they were either fake, raw, or covered in motor oil. But on occasion, we did have shoots where they used the real thing — those were yummy and you could eat until you couldn’t eat any more.
My parents also believe in serving good food to both staff and clients, so I was very lucky that my aunt was hired as a cook when I was younger, and after she retired, we always had good cooks at home. It’s part of what we’re known for, excellent, world-class photography and facilities, AND great food — particularly the sinigang.
When I was a child, I tried selling home-baked cookies in our shop, but my dad kept giving them away to clients. The cookie-business went bust, so I became a photographer, following my dad’s footsteps. My dad encouraged me to bring home baked chocolate chip cookies to my shoots, which I did. Until this day, my clients still remember… the cookies.
I shot products, talents and food, but I fell in love with industrial photography. Every shoot was like being on Discovery Channel. I realized a fundamental truth, too — good food is important, especially when the rotation is at least two weeks, you’re miles away from anything, and you’re surrounded by nothing but water. My client seemed to understand this well because the food Offshore was always amazing.
I did industrial photography for a few years, then one day, on an extended assignment offshore, I fell in love. Lucky for me, John was powered by rice and was trying to out-Filipino me. We got married after five years, and he moved to the Philippines.
We lived in the Philippines for seven years. Despite everything, they were wonderful years. We decided to focus on starting a family, and I finally attempted to cook everyday. I can’t say I’m a great cook, but we’re still alive, right?
We entertained at home quite at lot, too. It was only when we started inviting new expat-friends that I realized I didn’t really know how to cook Filipino food — apart from the usual adobo and caldereta which John loved. It had always been easier to order from our favorite restaurants, or ask the housekeeper. I was so inspired that they were learning to cook our dishes, so I started learning too.
In 2016, I was diagnosed with a rare and aggressive kind of cancer. My dad, always brought food for the nurses when he’d go to the hospital, so following that tradition, I brought cookies and apple pies for my operations, chemo, scans, check-ups. I find amazing how such a small gesture can bring about such a big smile, and that smile in turn gives me such a reassuring feeling, such a feeling of hope.
Cookies may have been my way of saying thank you for their care, but they also have been an integral part of my healing. Who knew?
In 2018, we moved to the Netherlands. One of our first trips was to the supermarket. I’ve always loved visiting supermarkets on trips overseas, but this time it was different. We had to figure out how to live here — it took us about two weeks to find the right kind of rice, and four years later, I’m still trying trying to figure out the different varieties of potatoes, and how to cook them. The kids used to drink Dutch Mill in the Philippines, and apparently, it’s not a Dutch brand, so for weeks we were drinking tetrapaks of stuff they tried and weren’t so fond of… and then there’s the joy of discovering stuff they love — like Hagelslag, chocolate sprinkles for breakfast.
For a lot of the Filipino stuff, we’re lucky to live in a country that has a fair sized Filipino community, and is one of the gateways for importation. Ate Rowena runs Toko4All.nl, and she’s got a whole selection of stuff from Boy Bawang to Lechon Kawali. We also have a local Filipino Ice cream company called Luneta, that make fresh ube ice cream and all these other flavors that we miss.
After four years of living here, the idea of home is both where we are and where we’re from, but we’re more than just a mix of that, it also includes our trips, our memories, the people we’ve met and the ideas that have caught our interests. That’s the beauty of food, it allows you travel without even leaving the dining room.
Two years ago, I fought cancer again, and this time had to go for an amputation and eventually rehab. They asked me what my dream was, and it was to climb to a remote village in the Philippines called Cambulo. It’s a wonderful dream, and I still want to do it, but two years later — I think I might have also found another powerful motivator.