Cookaholics Bulletin Board

You know, this would be an interesting research project.

I am on another non-food board, and asked awhile back how old everyone was when they learned to cook. It was amazing how many said they just hadn't. That their mothers either couldn't cook, so they didn't learn, or their mothers were very good cooks (or thought they were,) and like mine, wouldn't let them in the kitchen. I learned how to cook and bake from my grandmother home ec. teacher, and Julia. Didn't do so many of her recipes back then, but got inspired. And I have to admit, I learned a lot from ATK.

It's not really cooking, but I've been peeling potatoes and fixing sandwiches for lunch boxes since I was 10 yrs. I moved up to mashing the potatoes when I was about 12.

We had hamburgers & chips every Saturday night. Dad was in charge of this meal and he let me flip my first burger at about 10 yrs. I remember him telling me not to press the burgers so hard when I shaped them and that was probably my first lesson.

Everything else I learned from my parents was by observation. Fortunatly Dad liked to cook and always made Sunday breakfast (while the rest of us were at Mass) and oftentimes cooked Sunday dinner. He was a bit of a show-off and I can still see him pouring a bottle of beer into a stew while holding the can about 2' above the pot. What a guy!

Fitzie

We went to a friends where we had a chef in who cooked. She was pretty decent; I'd consider it on par for most 'better' restaurants around here and better then pretty much any chain. It was a nice experience.