Tuesday 4 ~ What's Cooking?

 

What's Cooking?


Welcome, welcome. It's good to have you back for another visit. I hope you are keeping well and are up for another of Toni Taddeo's Tuesday 4 questions.

Could we discuss cooking and kitchens today?

1.How did you learn to cook?

Mostly by watching my mother.  She was an excellent cook, even though she had to work full time by the time I was old enough to notice. She always managed to come up with delicious meals every night after working a long 8-5 day at the Sheriff's Department as a Secretary.

I later learned more by trial and error after we got married and I had to learn to cook on a tight budget.  We ate a LOT of casseroles!

2. Do you have a favorite cookbook?

Yes, the Better Homes and Gardens "New Cook Book", which, in this case is not very new...I received this as a wedding gift almost 55 years ago!

I love this cookbook because it is like the one my mother always used, although hers was an even older edition than this one.  You can see that this one is "well-used".

I learned to bake cookies by following the recipes in this cookbook...

And also how to make a good pie crust, as this is the recipe my mother always used, and her pies were always the best.  I must admit, however, that in recent years I have resorted to using the Pillsbury refrigerated pie dough that comes in a box with two rolls of pie dough ready to roll out and put in the pie pan with your favorite filling.  My mother would be aghast! 

As May 7th, 2024 is the 18th anniversary of my mother's passing from this life, I thought it would be appropriate to remember her by sharing this LINK to a post I wrote about her pies several years ago.

My mother, cooking something good in her kitchen...her happy place! I sure do miss her and wish I could just step back into that kitchen and see her there once again, but I wouldn't call her back from heaven for anything. I bet she's baking her famous coconut cream pies for everyone in heaven. I sure look forward to seeing her again some day up there, where we will never have to say "good-bye" again.

3.What is your cooking specialty?

I don't think I have a specialty.  I really don't enjoy cooking all that much anymore, but I manage to keep up with the basics.  If I had a specialty, it would probably have been cookies and pies as needed...(but never quite as good as my mother's).  HERE is a fun link to a former Tuesday 4 post we did in 2020., entitled "All About Food", and I think I answered some of these questions there pretty well.

4. Is your kitchen well suited for you and if not how would you improve it?

It's okay.  I don't have quite as much countertop space to spread out when baking and cooking as I used to have in our last house, but there are fewer people living here now and we don't entertain nearly as much as we used to, so it really is good enough.  If I were to improve anything, it would be the cabinets underneath the counters. I would really love to have some nice big drawers to put pots and pans and baking things in as opposed to all these cabinets that are too low, dark, and so very hard to get to. I have to literally sit on the floor to find some things and then I have a hard time getting back up. However, I really can't complain. I do have plenty of cabinets and everything fits. It's just hard to get to for an old lady. LOL.  Here are a couple of pictures of my kitchen. Please don't judge the clutter and stuff on the counters, etc.   I did not clean up before taking these pictures, so it is what it is, the real deal, unretouched.  This is "how we roll" here...LOL.

I guess that's it for the Tuesday 4 for this week! You can join in the fun HERE! Thank you, Annie, for these fun questions each week.

While we are talking about food, here's a picture with a story:

When I bought this box of Cheerios recently, I felt sad that we hadn't heard from our only grandson in quite a while.  He's almost 25, and lives far away, so I guess I shouldn't expect too much. But I do send him text messages and send him cards on holidays, etc., and keep hoping he will just pick up the phone and call us some day, or at least respond to my texts.  Recently I sent him a lot of pictures of family activities and just some silly stuff, like me watching the eclipse:

And that finally got his attention, so he sent me his eclipse picture:

(He lives in Maine, so they had a better vantage point than we did in Florida)

I guess he felt sorry for me and wanted me to see what a real eclipse picture looks like. LOL. But the best part was, in his message he said he would call us later that day, and he actually did!  We had a wonderful long conversation and got caught up on all of his recent activities and work, etc., and it was really really great to hear from him. So yes, Cheerios, "Grandkids DO make my heart happy!"

In closing I will share the picture and verse I shared on Facebook Monday morning:

Matthew 7:7-11

7 “Ask, and it will be given to you; seek, and you will find; knock, and it will be opened to you. 

8 For everyone who asks receives, and he who seeks finds, and to him who knocks it will be opened. 

9 Or what man is there among you who, if his son asks for bread, will give him a stone? 10 Or if he asks for a fish, will he give him a serpent? 

11 If you then, being evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your Father who is in heaven give good things to those who ask Him!"

Asking, seeking, and knocking...and praying about it, will bring about the blessings that we are seeking. I am thankful that God heard my little prayers about hearing from our grandson...and He answered those prayers.  I truly do give thanks to the Lord for this answered prayer.

What might you be asking, seeking and knocking on God's door about these days? I pray that your prayers will also be heard and answered in God's good time and within His will.

Have a blessed and wonderful week.