Cooking - the art or practice of preparing foods

"Cooking" defined by dictionary.com as, "the art or practice of preparing foods." Indeed, I do consider it an art- more and more each day.

My dad loves to make breakfast, to the point where he has said many times that if he could open a diner that would only be open for breakfast and brunch that he would do it. My mom loves to bake with little helpers, the younger the helpers are (and the bigger the mess) the more fun my mom has- especially with Christmas goodies. This she inherited from my great grandmother, who was the ultimate grandma any kid could have ever hoped for.

The first memory I have of cooking was in Germany, in a little cottage my parents rented while my dad was stationed at Ramstein Air Force Base. I was about three years old, still in my nightgown, and found my daddy getting ready to make scrambled eggs. To my delight he pulled up a chair to the counter and offered to teach me how to crack eggs. I had to work with two hands because my hands weren't coordinated or large enough to handle an egg. I concentrated so hard, and was so proud of myself. I dropped at least one, and I remember my mom had to pick a piece of shell out of the cooked product later.

Christmas memories of licking off beaters and helping my mom dump ingredients into the bowl belong largely to my mom. She always had Christmas music in the background and we would actually "dress up" in our nightgowns (my sister and I, not my mom) and dance around with our nutcracker dolls pretending we were in the ballet while we waited for the goodies to bake.

My grandma was the first one to trust me with an electric mixer- and flour ended up everywhere! I remember her laughing while she cleaned us up. My grandmother was an amazing cook- the way to win a place in her heart was to simply ask for seconds of anything she made. She loved cooking and baking! She made chicken and rice once and my cousin and I couldn't figure out what it was- couldn't have been chicken and rice, and she was tickled pink at the looks on our faces when she told us. When I was in high school I was frustrated that I couldn't make things as good as she did, and she told me not to worry, "After 87 years of cooking, you will cook just as good as I can." She was about 90 years old at the time. My mom found a reprint of the same cookbook she learned how to bake with my great grandmother and taught us to bake from and bought them for us one Christmas. My sister and I both cried when we opened them- which lead to open weeping from my mom that it meant so much to us (mom is the type who will cry at Campbell's soup commercials, poor thing gets teased mercilessly by her kids for it).

When I got married, I thought I knew my way around the kitchen as I was in the kitchen for a least a few minutes every night growing up. I was horrified when I realized the truth- my list of things I knew how to make well was minuscule, and consisted mostly of deserts. Add to this the fact that our tiny apartment stove top and oven couldn't hold a temperature, and you have a lot hopes dashed in the life of a young bride. One of my best friends sent me all of her favorite recipes in a word document, and another gave me one of our favorite cookbooks still, almost four years later. We lived off of these and the microwave. Because of a tiny budget and a deep freezer, we bought mostly pre-ready meals until a little over a year ago. By then my cooking had gotten quite a lot better.

Now I am finally at the point where cooking is fun- even by myself (I used to loath the kitchen unless I had a partner chef). My grandmothers influence is beginning to take root as cooking is one of the things that instantly comes to mind when I hear someone needs help or is hurting. Last summer I was soooo excited to start trying some great spicy new recipes, and then had to change plans to things that were bland and healthy as morning sickness came along with the pregnancy of my handsome son. So this summer, I am taking full advantage!

Here are some of my goals:
- Keep things 80% healthy as one of my friends (a chef in the gourmet cooking world) says
- Keep things in budget (my husband openly laughs because we both are huge foodies and often decide to break that rule taking $ from somewhere else to indulge)
- Use fresh produce and try to limit processed foods- except ones where I approve of the preservatives
- Stay away from using the oven too often, using the grill more
- Spend limited time on preparation as wedding season is on and I booked 12 weddings for a three month period of time


Sharing food was a gift of all my grandmothers, so I will share the recipes that don't flop for everyone to enjoy! I got a little crazy this past week and tried six new recipes- of which only one was a flop (whole wheat bread sticks).