If You Can Read, You Can Cook

When I was still having babies and having so much of my time and energy monopolized by them, my older children would sometimes express a desire for cookies or something of that nature.  I would point them toward the kitchen and the cook books.  There were precious few moments of mother and daughter working side by side with mother dispensing pearls of wisdom.  My child would bravely forge ahead on her own (mostly her - I had girl, boy, girl, girl, girl, then boy, boy, boy).  The young cook in the kitchen and mom in the other room tending to baby, but available for questions.  They soon became accomplished dessert cooks.  For some mysterious reason it took them much, much longer to master dinner type cooking.  For most of them not until they had moved out.  ; )

There was a bit of a gap, perhaps due to lack of babies.   Number 6 and 7 don't really cook.  Although they have all baked bread from scratch several times.  I actually did work in the kitchen with the guys teaching bread and biscuits and a few other things. (You handle bread dough like a dog and biscuit dough like a cat.) 

Maybe because of the divorce forcing me to go out to work, Number 8 cooks well. He often fixes dinner - having it ready or well under way when I get home.  (What a guy!)  I need to help get the other guys cooking.  Andrew is somewhat interested now. (Benjamin tried to teach him a few things before his mission, but Andrew was not interested yet)  Now, he recognizes the need to expand beyond "Proctor Place Special" - from his mission - tomato soup and ramon or just the ramon noodles, I guess.  He says he actually likes it.  The rest of us refuse to try it.  He made apple crisp tonight because I over bought a bit on the Christmas fruit. (how unusual)

I have sometimes felt guilty about not teaching my girls and oldest son more personally, but I must say my method seems to have worked quite well as all of them are very good cooks.  The girls, in fact, quite out-shine me in the kitchen and all of them have gone on to cook things I never would have tried.  Including David.  I have never made chicken cordon bleu.  He not only made it; he cooked it in the back of the car turned solar cooker while he and his date enjoyed a day at the beach.

Must stop talking about this.  I am getting hungry.