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December 21, 2003

Cooking

My mom was a terrible cook. The first Thanksgiving that my mom and dad were married, they had the family over for dinner. Their apartment was so small that they had to put a cardtable in the hallway to seat everyone.
My mom had never roasted a turkey before. She followed all the directions, but the darn thing never browned. Mom went to the pantry, and saw Kitchen Bouquet. Well, it is advertised as a browning sauce, so Mom brushed it all over the turkey. The bird was beautiful, according to Dad. The only problem was that there was no white meat. The Kitchen Bouquet had turned the white meat dark.

Mom never lived that down. She finally learned to cook 6 different meals for dinner - so every Sunday we had roast beef. Mondays were pork chops, Tuesdays meat loaf, Wednesday baked chicken, Thursday was lamb chops with mint jelly. Friday night was always a problem, because my dad really hated fish, and this was prior to Vatican II - so mom and the kids would have tuna salad, and Dad would have grilled cheese.

Saturday nights, Dad took over the cooking and grilled steaks.

Sometimes, Mom would try something different, usually to really bad reveiws.

When Mom and Dad entertained (fairly often, really) she hired a cook. Her name was Frances, and she taught me to bake the best cinnamon pecan rolls on earth. She also taught me about cooking meat and vegetables and making fancy radishes for salads.

So I ended up being a good cook, despite Mom. Thanks, Mom (up in heaven) for hiring Frances!

Posted by Beth at December 21, 2003 07:45 PM