On Wed 19 Jan 2005 06:30:00a, Leonard Lehew tittered and giggled, and
giggled and tittered, and finally blurted out...

> On 12 Jan 2005 21:50:26 -0800, "roxmarie" > wrote:
>
>>
>>Dimitri wrote:
>>> Other than cinnamon toast and cold cereal or a sandwich what was the
>>> first thing you cooked, and about how old were you?
>>>
>>> I distinctly trying my hand at scrambled eggs Mexican style at about
>>> 11 ( after they cooked I needed to drain off the extra liquid from
>>> the tomatoes I put in).
>>>
>>> I second attempt was a pineapple upside-down cake in an old cast iron
>>> pan swerved with whipped cream about 3 yeas later. That one turned
>>> out very well. ;-)
>>>
>>> Dimitri
> I grew up with a mother and grandmother that were great cooks. Even
> today, one of the great pleasures of life is to get in the kitchen and
> cook something with my mother. She's 72 now and I'm 51.

My background was similar.

> I first got interested in cooking as an 11 year old Boy Scout. I
> figured there had to be something better to eat in the great outdoors
> than a burnt hot dog. Like a lot of men, I still think the combination
> of meat and coals from a wood fire is hard to beat.

For my cooking merit badge, on a camping trip, we were given an assortment
of foods to use which included dried fruit (apricots, prunes, etc.) and a
box of Bisquick. Everybody else made stewed fruit and biscuits. I stewed
and mashed the fruit, made a pastry dough from the Bisquick and made fried
fruit pies.

> I started cooking "seriously" as an impoverished college student. I
> couldn't afford to eat out much, and fixing dinner was a great way to
> get women to come back to my apartment!

I started a little earlier. My mom began working when I was 12. During
the week I cooked most of the meals and began baking.

> One of my first attempts involved making a flaming dessert --
> pineapple flambee. I didn't have a chafing dish, so I fashioned
> something from the burning ring support from an electric stove, coat
> hanger wire, and a can of Sterno. About the time I flamed the sauce,
> my support collapsed on the table dumping the (flaming) sauce on the
> table. Fortunately, the tabletop was fairly flameproof. We just
> scooped the sauce off the table top and ate it.

Ingenious, despite the mishap!

> Happily, the occassional failure these days is not quite so dramatic.
>
> Cheers,
>
> Leonard

Wayne