Europe 2014: cook

I cooked for all but one of my CS hosts because I want to show my appreciation. One of hosts actually said that I am brave to want to cook in a kitchen that I'm not familiar with. I know I am good in improvisation and concocting dishes using whatever I can find in their pantries. I was more worried/afraid that I might mess up their kitchen. Houses here aren't very big so the kitchens are relatively smaller too. But if compared to Japanese houses, they are about the same - small but well-equipped.

Here are a few of the kitchens I've cooked in.

Not a pub-crawler/party-person, I kept all my evenings free so that I can cook/eat, interact and get to know my hosts. I was very happy that they liked my dishes (or they are just being nice). I also showed them some of the recipes/tips I have. Some of them also cooked for me so I was very fortunate to have had more home-cooked food than restaurant food during my trip.

After dinner, we usually talked over a cup of tea or some nice (Belgian) beers or wine... we cheered for the same team when we watched the World Cup matches together (ps: Clockwork Orange is now my 2nd favorite team after Die Mannschaft ;) )... we watched some classic movies together.. or we just made conversation over some nice indie music at the background..

We shared, we exchanged and we discussed. We might not agree with each other but at least we now know one another's perspectives and views. I've learned many interesting things from each and every one of them. So these chitchat sessions are definitely the one thing I love about couch-surfing..