Seven Things

My friend Maisie tagged me to post seven things about me on this blog. I did a post of seven general things on Play for a Moment, so this one will be geared toward food and cooking. Let's see what I can share...

1. The first time I remember cooking was when I was 4 years old. I'd been invited to eat supper with the neighbors and their mom handed me a can of biscuits to open and put on the pan. I'd never seen those before and when the can popped open, it startled me. I don't remember anything else about that meal, just the biscuits.

2. After Mom went to work full-time, Tonita and I were responsible for making supper and washing the dishes each evening. Mostly whoever cooked had to do the dishes - we tried having one cook and one wash, but that caused some problems with one thinking the other was using too many dishes to cook. :o) We usually traded off each week.

3. We also did the grocery shopping. On Saturday morning Mom would leave a signed check on the table before she left for work. One or both of us would walk to the grocery store downtown (only about 6 or 8 blocks away), do the shopping, pay for the groceries with the check, then call Dad to come pick us up. We pretty much bought the same kinds of things each week, and our limit to spend was $50 for a family of seven.

4. I don't consider myself to be a picky eater, but like everyone, there are things I don't care for. Some things I never thought I would like, but as an adult I found I do, are asparagus, lamb, caviar, broccoli, cauliflower.

5. My Royal Prestige stainless steel cooking pans were purchased from a salesman I met at Village Inn when I was waitressing. He was staying there and making sales calls in the area, and asked if he could come to the house and talk to me about this stainless steel cookware. Since Mom and Dad had a set of waterless pans, I knew the benefits of owning my own. I was 18, Tonita was 17, and we each bought a set from him. We're both still using them. Oh, and that salesman? He was a young college student, and was incredibly handsome. It was not a problem to listen to him talk about those pans. :o)

6. With a few exceptions, I don't like sweet on my meat or my vegetables. No glazes, thank you. I will eat barbecue sauce, but I'm kind of a snob. I like K.C. Masterpiece Original.

7. I learned to cook by making basic, inexpensive dishes at home. I did take Home Ec, and learned a few things there, but before I went to my first class, here's what my mom told me, "The teacher will have her ways for you to do things that are different than we do here. You need to just do it her way in class, then you can do it our way at home." :o)