Cooking is probably one of my favorite things to do. I have always been around people who loved to cook and were good at it. My mom being at the top of the list. Yes, mom loves to cook and is actually a very good cook. She loves looking up recipes in her favorite cookbook called, Cooking Without Looking, and on the Internet.
Her kitchen is really no different than yours. No special appliances, really. We have marked the stove and microwave so that she knows where each setting is located. We have also labeled her spices and canned foods with braille or a small dot that is used with a special pen that can record what the item is, and then tell her so that we don't end up with cinnamon in our tacos instead of cumin. But really, with most spices, she knows what it is either by the smell or the shape of the jar. Also, the weight of the spices vary. For instance, pepper is always lighter than salt.
The one item that can be a little scary with mom is a knife. She has cut herself numerous times. I'm pretty sure that there have been several meals that I've unknowingly eaten mom's blood. I know that is gross, but most likely true. Fortunately, it hasn't killed any of us yet. You learn to laugh, get a band aid and move on.
Of course, there have been some very unique meals. Let's revisit some of those special dishes, shall we? Back when mom and dad were still early in their marriage they had been on a road trip and stopped at Stuckey's. While there, mom bought a shake mix. Basically, you put the powder into a blender with milk and ice. Walla! You have a shake.
When they returned home, mom wanted to try out her new mix. She pulled out the blender and put in all the ingredients and began to blend. Mom then poured it into a glass and took the now liquefied, powdered, masterpiece to dad. He immediately took a drink and was impressed with mom's blending skills. She then left him to enjoy the sumptuous drink, while she cleaned up the kitchen.
During that time, she heard dad making these spitting sounds. You know how people do when they are spitting out sunflower seeds? She couldn't help but wonder what dad was spitting out from her delectable shake, so she said, "Ray, what are you doing?" And dad retorted, "I'm spitting out this paper." "What paper? I didn't put paper in the shake," said mom. Dad then replied, "Well, if it's red, white and blue and has writing on it, it's paper." Turns out, there were recipes in the top of the jar that mom didn't notice and they unknowingly became part of a recipe themselves. It didn't stop dad from enjoying the shake. It just took a little longer to swallow.
Another, of my favorite stories is when mom decided to fry up some okra one evening for dinner. Mom had a small little fryer, so she just had to empty the bag okra in the basket and then drop the basket in the oil. Mom, got busy preparing the other items for the meal, so she asked dad to come and check the okra for her. He pulled up the basket and looked intently into the fine, fried veggies and couldn't help but think that something was very wrong. "Mary Sue, are you sure this is okra?" he asked with true confusion. "Yes, why?" said mom, getting a little defensive. (She gets kinda defensive about her vittles sometimes.) "Well, it looks like you're frying pecans," dad said. Sure enough, mom had fried up about a dozen pecans. They ended up snacking on a couple then put them back in the freezer after having a good laugh.
There are many more culinary delights that will be coming in later posts. These are not the only cooking tales I have in my arsenal, there are many, many more to come. ;o)
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