I began cooking before Junior High. I started a massive kitchen fire while my parents were out of the house. My mom had made Mexican Rosette Cookies the night before (with a handled iron shaped like a flower that you first dip into batter and then into boiling oil.) I figured I could make whip up a batch, but forgot to tend to the heating oil. Suddenly smoke was filling the house. I also didn't know that you should not use water to put out a grease fire, but God was merciful and more disaster was averted as the fire extinguished rapidly.

Next signpost on my cooking journey was Junior High Home Economics Class. My father cheerfully ate every bit of "homework" every single day. Here I learned cinnamon toast, "broiled dinner" consisting of broiled hamburger patty, oven French fries, and broiled peach half, and a creation called "super omelet." The results of the omelet were sporadically successful depending on the ingredients I chose to include (yea to mushrooms and cheese... nay to apples and raisins).

One of my creations from this time period was the cake on the cover of a Woman's Day magazine... "Chocolate Coronet something something."  There were ladyfingers, pounds of melted chocolate, heavy cream, and much butter. The result was 12 inches of creamy, calorie laden, spongy chocolate pudding. I discovered that I did not like dark chocolate (and neither did anyone in my family) and I wanted to throw the whole thing away. My mother taught me another important lesson about cooking. Ingredients cost money... so you better think about what you are doing ahead of time. I still "can't believe I ate the whole thing."

My parents subscribed to "Gourmet" Magazine and my mother would often make the "menu of the month." She would assign me a portion of the menu. One month the cake I was baking required currant jelly, not a typical ingredient those days on grocery shelves. My father drove me all over town hunting for the jelly. They committed themselves to encouraging and developing my talents and interests.

These days I am enjoying fresh produce from neighboring gardens and picking berries. I am learning new names for ingredients, and trying to speak "metric." I enjoy baking with Emily, Amanda, and Hannah. New time of life and new food.

As I was writing, gratitude swept over me for my parents, who never discouraged me despite fires and costly mistakes, and  always acted as if I were Julia Child. --- beth (august 2005)