after reading about different people post about their mother's cooking I
started thinking about my roots of cooking, who influenced my recipe design
and my tastes in food, it is a very wide ranging pallet i have been given by
friends and family. I also learned my strengths and weakness for skills and
what my inate talents are from the same group of people... so I am
interested to hear more of people's journey to where they are today.

Lee

"Storrmmee" > wrote in message
...
> after reading about different people post about their mother's cooking I
> started thinking about my roots of cooking, who influenced my recipe
> design and my tastes in food, it is a very wide ranging pallet i have been
> given by friends and family. I also learned my strengths and weakness for
> skills and what my inate talents are from the same group of people... so I
> am interested to hear more of people's journey to where they are today.

My mother cooked a few things that were good. But the food was mostly the
same and pretty bland. Most of the time we went out to eat. Now she pretty
much always goes out to eat. I mostly didn't learn to cook from her but she
did teach me a few things.

do you think eating out a lot as a child made you want to eat more at home
or eat out? I ask because we rarely ate out when i was at home, it truly
was a special event like a birthday or similar and i never ate at a fast
food place until i was in my teens. this made me go through a phase where i
wanted to eat out and never eat at home, but now i have come full circle and
prefer to eat at home probably 99 percent of the time.
Lee

"Julie Bove" > wrote in message
...
>
> "Storrmmee" > wrote in message
> ...
>> after reading about different people post about their mother's cooking I
>> started thinking about my roots of cooking, who influenced my recipe
>> design and my tastes in food, it is a very wide ranging pallet i have
>> been given by friends and family. I also learned my strengths and
>> weakness for skills and what my inate talents are from the same group of
>> people... so I am interested to hear more of people's journey to where
>> they are today.
>
> My mother cooked a few things that were good. But the food was mostly the
> same and pretty bland. Most of the time we went out to eat. Now she
> pretty much always goes out to eat. I mostly didn't learn to cook from
> her but she did teach me a few things.
>

"Storrmmee" > wrote in message
...
> do you think eating out a lot as a child made you want to eat more at home
> or eat out? I ask because we rarely ate out when i was at home, it truly
> was a special event like a birthday or similar and i never ate at a fast
> food place until i was in my teens. this made me go through a phase where
> i wanted to eat out and never eat at home, but now i have come full circle
> and prefer to eat at home probably 99 percent of the time.
> Lee

Well for the most part, eating out was better than my mom's cooking! But it
did make me learn to cook. We didn't get fast food very often which was
fine by me because I didn't like it. As a child I wouldn't eat burgers,
fries, hotdogs...they didn't have chicken nuggets yet. I really hated
pizza. So if they took us out for pizza I would then have a plain burger
because it was the only choice they gave me.

Mostly I got sick of being away from home. And it seemed we were always
away from home! I took dance and swim lessons. I played the violin and was
in honor orchestra. I was in scouts and choir at school. When I was older
I did some sports, was in pep club and drama. Also Junior Achievement and I
began working when I was 12.

Saturday days were when my mom and I went grocery shopping. This involved
going to at least two stores and there was lunch at the Safeway food
counter. I believe they served lunch and dinner. If you wanted steak, you
picked your own from the meat dept. and they cooked it for you.

Sundays we went to church and then afterwards was either some sort of
shopping extravaganza or we took a day trip. Sometimes we did day trips on
Saturday. We also did things at the church on Wednesdays.

Sometimes we took weekend trips and we were frequently pulled out of school
for various vacations. We never flew anywhere but took car trips and once
took a ferry into Canada. I hated those vacations because it meant doing
school work in the car or motel.

We also did quite a few camping trips either for the weekend or a week at a
time. My mom did do some cooking then because there usually weren't
restaurants around. Exception being the Boeing camping trips. They had
cooks for those. I don't remember having any complaints with the food
there.

I just really got sick of being on the go all the time! I can remember
begging to just stay home. But that rarely seemed to happen.

Now one reason I like to dine out is that we can all get what we want to
eat. It is very difficult for me to come up with any one meal that we all
like. Angela loves chicken and that is pretty much the only meat she likes.
I don't like it at all and husband is partial to beef. But he likes things
like roast and steak and I can't digest those.

Tonight I made Mexican food. Husband and daughter had chicken tacos (crisp
shell) with beans, rice and some black olives. I had bean tacos with a very
small amount of rice and a ton of extra shredded lettuce. Daughter loved it
but I know husband would have preferred shredded beef and something spicier.

I just don't like paying restaurant prices. We are pretty much down to
going out for Friday dinner. Then lunch and dinner on Sundays because we go
with my parents. My mom rarely cooks now and doesn't much like people using
her kitchen. Once in a while I just put my foot down and go get prepared
food somewhere like herbed chicken breasts and salad, but that winds up
costing me more money than if we went out! Daughter doesn't usually like to
go out to eat unless maybe she can get a milkshake.

interesting, thanks,

Lee
"Julie Bove" > wrote in message
...
>
> "Storrmmee" > wrote in message
> ...
>> do you think eating out a lot as a child made you want to eat more at
>> home or eat out? I ask because we rarely ate out when i was at home, it
>> truly was a special event like a birthday or similar and i never ate at a
>> fast food place until i was in my teens. this made me go through a phase
>> where i wanted to eat out and never eat at home, but now i have come full
>> circle and prefer to eat at home probably 99 percent of the time.
>> Lee
>
> Well for the most part, eating out was better than my mom's cooking! But
> it did make me learn to cook. We didn't get fast food very often which
> was fine by me because I didn't like it. As a child I wouldn't eat
> burgers, fries, hotdogs...they didn't have chicken nuggets yet. I really
> hated pizza. So if they took us out for pizza I would then have a plain
> burger because it was the only choice they gave me.
>
> Mostly I got sick of being away from home. And it seemed we were always
> away from home! I took dance and swim lessons. I played the violin and
> was in honor orchestra. I was in scouts and choir at school. When I was
> older I did some sports, was in pep club and drama. Also Junior
> Achievement and I began working when I was 12.
>
> Saturday days were when my mom and I went grocery shopping. This involved
> going to at least two stores and there was lunch at the Safeway food
> counter. I believe they served lunch and dinner. If you wanted steak,
> you picked your own from the meat dept. and they cooked it for you.
>
> Sundays we went to church and then afterwards was either some sort of
> shopping extravaganza or we took a day trip. Sometimes we did day trips
> on Saturday. We also did things at the church on Wednesdays.
>
> Sometimes we took weekend trips and we were frequently pulled out of
> school for various vacations. We never flew anywhere but took car trips
> and once took a ferry into Canada. I hated those vacations because it
> meant doing school work in the car or motel.
>
> We also did quite a few camping trips either for the weekend or a week at
> a time. My mom did do some cooking then because there usually weren't
> restaurants around. Exception being the Boeing camping trips. They had
> cooks for those. I don't remember having any complaints with the food
> there.
>
> I just really got sick of being on the go all the time! I can remember
> begging to just stay home. But that rarely seemed to happen.
>
> Now one reason I like to dine out is that we can all get what we want to
> eat. It is very difficult for me to come up with any one meal that we all
> like. Angela loves chicken and that is pretty much the only meat she
> likes. I don't like it at all and husband is partial to beef. But he
> likes things like roast and steak and I can't digest those.
>
> Tonight I made Mexican food. Husband and daughter had chicken tacos
> (crisp shell) with beans, rice and some black olives. I had bean tacos
> with a very small amount of rice and a ton of extra shredded lettuce.
> Daughter loved it but I know husband would have preferred shredded beef
> and something spicier.
>
> I just don't like paying restaurant prices. We are pretty much down to
> going out for Friday dinner. Then lunch and dinner on Sundays because we
> go with my parents. My mom rarely cooks now and doesn't much like people
> using her kitchen. Once in a while I just put my foot down and go get
> prepared food somewhere like herbed chicken breasts and salad, but that
> winds up costing me more money than if we went out! Daughter doesn't
> usually like to go out to eat unless maybe she can get a milkshake.
>

"Storrmmee" > wrote in message
...
> after reading about different people post about their mother's cooking I
> started thinking about my roots of cooking, who influenced my recipe
> design and my tastes in food, it is a very wide ranging pallet i have been
> given by friends and family. I also learned my strengths and weakness for
> skills and what my inate talents are from the same group of people... so I
> am interested to hear more of people's journey to where they are today.
>
> Lee
>

Pretty much self taught and watching the Frugal Gourmet and Justin Wilson.

Growing up, we had simple food; roast chicken, roast pork, etc. My
grandmother made some really great traditional Polish dishes, but we wee too
young to bother learning from her.

My wife did most of the cooking when we first married. It was some of her
family meals, plus some of the normal fare. It was not until we were in our
30's that we really started to appreciate some of the better foods, better
ingredients, more complex preparations, and so forth. We would try new
techniques, different ingredients from the international section of the
store, cheeses we never heard of etc. It was fun to experiment. Fun to try
new recipes on friends.

the fact that the two of you worked/played together is very cool, one of the
things that drew me to my dh was his cooking skills... i am great at
designing dishes, and i make several things in the excellent catagory, but i
do not have the "sit/stand still" factor that allows for much close
attention cooking, which he is excellent at, most of what i cook are
simmering sorts o things... man i LOVE Justin wilson. Lee

"Ed Pawlowski" > wrote in message
...
>
> "Storrmmee" > wrote in message
> ...
>> after reading about different people post about their mother's cooking I
>> started thinking about my roots of cooking, who influenced my recipe
>> design and my tastes in food, it is a very wide ranging pallet i have
>> been given by friends and family. I also learned my strengths and
>> weakness for skills and what my inate talents are from the same group of
>> people... so I am interested to hear more of people's journey to where
>> they are today.
>>
>> Lee
>>
>
> Pretty much self taught and watching the Frugal Gourmet and Justin Wilson.
>
> Growing up, we had simple food; roast chicken, roast pork, etc. My
> grandmother made some really great traditional Polish dishes, but we wee
> too young to bother learning from her.
>
> My wife did most of the cooking when we first married. It was some of her
> family meals, plus some of the normal fare. It was not until we were in
> our 30's that we really started to appreciate some of the better foods,
> better ingredients, more complex preparations, and so forth. We would try
> new techniques, different ingredients from the international section of
> the store, cheeses we never heard of etc. It was fun to experiment. Fun
> to try new recipes on friends.

On Wed, 1 Jun 2011 07:52:48 -0500, "Storrmmee"
> wrote:

> man i LOVE Justin wilson.

I do too... we should do a Justin Wilson cook along someday! Those
who are chat shy won't go into the chat room, just check in here and
post their final results... hopefully with a tinypic.

--

Today's mighty oak is just yesterday's nut that held its ground.

"Storrmmee" > wrote in message
...
> after reading about different people post about their mother's cooking I
> started thinking about my roots of cooking, who influenced my recipe
> design and my tastes in food, it is a very wide ranging pallet i have been
> given by friends and family. I also learned my strengths and weakness for
> skills and what my inate talents are from the same group of people... so I
> am interested to hear more of people's journey to where they are today.
>
> Lee
>
My mother didn't like cooking. She did the very basics just because it's
what a 1950's housewife was expected to do. My father taught her how to
make basic red (tomato) sauce. And she learned a few things from her
mother. But by all accounts my grandmother didn't want children underfoot
when she was in the kitchen. By the time my mother got married in 1951 she
was basically given a Betty Crocker cookbook and told to figure it out. LOL

I was a little more curious. In my early 20's I watched The Frugal Gourmet
(Jeff Smith) and The Galloping Gourmet (Graham Kerr - I believe he may have
still been drinking then). Not so much Julia Child but I did catch a few of
her later shows. I bought cookbooks and read them. I tried new things.
There's no one real influence or particular taste or style.

I still prefer to keep things simple. Give me a recipe with 20 ingredients
and 10 steps and I'm likely to skip it no matter how good it may be.

Jill

On 01/06/2011 4:29 PM, jmcquown wrote:

> My mother didn't like cooking. She did the very basics just because it's
> what a 1950's housewife was expected to do. My father taught her how to
> make basic red (tomato) sauce. And she learned a few things from her
> mother. But by all accounts my grandmother didn't want children
> underfoot when she was in the kitchen. By the time my mother got married
> in 1951 she was basically given a Betty Crocker cookbook and told to
> figure it out. LOL

My mother was quite competent in the kitchen and was able to crank out
seriously good food to feed a crowd without any fuss. She had a knack
for baking, which she probabaly got from her father. My grandfather was
the one who did the Christmas baking and prepared the big roast dinners.


> I was a little more curious. In my early 20's I watched The Frugal
> Gourmet (Jeff Smith) and The Galloping Gourmet (Graham Kerr - I believe
> he may have still been drinking then).

If Kerr was interesting and entertaining it was probably still in his
drinking days. I enjoyed his show and one of the most important things
I learned about cooking was that there are styles of cooking and that
the technique is as important as the ingredients.


> Not so much Julia Child but I did

I usually saw Julia only as guests on other shows.


> catch a few of her later shows. I bought cookbooks and read them. I
> tried new things. There's no one real influence or particular taste or
> style.
>
> I still prefer to keep things simple. Give me a recipe with 20
> ingredients and 10 steps and I'm likely to skip it no matter how good it
> may be.


Back to my comment about Kerr and styles of cooking, a lot of times
recipes are much more involved than they need to be because the list all
ingredients and every step and things could be much simpler if the
recipe simply told you to use some basic procedure... for instance.... .
a lot of recipes require some sort of thickener. A newbie would need to
be told to melt some butter in a pot, add an equal amount of flour and
to stir around for a minute or two. An experience cook would make some
roux.

If the recipe needed Bechemel sauce it would list the ingredients and
steps to make the above roux and add milk, stirring constantly. Having
learned to cook y style, I would just make a white sauce using a roux.

Souffles can be very intimidating to people but I have had very good
results faking souffles by using a roux to make a white sauce, adding
something to flavour it and adding beaten egg yolks, whipping egg whites
and folding them in.

On Jun 1, 4:29*pm, "jmcquown" > wrote:
> "Storrmmee" > wrote in message
>
> ...> after reading about different people post about their mother's cooking I
> > started thinking about my roots of cooking, who influenced my recipe
> > design and my tastes in food, it is a very wide ranging pallet i have been
> > given by friends and family. *I also learned my strengths and weakness for
> > skills and what my inate talents are from the same group of people... so I
> > am interested to hear more of people's journey to where they are today.
>
> > Lee
>
> My mother didn't like cooking. *She did the very basics just because it's
> what a 1950's housewife was expected to do. *My father taught her how to
> make basic red (tomato) sauce. *And she learned a few things from her
> mother. *But by all accounts my grandmother didn't want children underfoot
> when she was in the kitchen. *By the time my mother got married in 1951 she
> was basically given a Betty Crocker cookbook and told to figure it out. LOL
>
> I was a little more curious. *In my early 20's I watched The Frugal Gourmet
> (Jeff Smith) and The Galloping Gourmet (Graham Kerr - I believe he may have
> still been drinking then). *Not so much Julia Child but I did catch a few of
> her later shows. *I bought cookbooks and read them. *I tried new things.
> There's no one real influence or particular taste or style.
>
> I still prefer to keep things simple. *Give me a recipe with 20 ingredients
> and 10 steps and I'm likely to skip it no matter how good it may be.
>
> Jill

I'm like your mother Jill; in that when I married in '58, I too was
given the Betty Crocker cookbook that was my mother-in-law's copy.
She didn't need it, but I sure did! The only thing I could cook was
mashed potatoes and hamburgers. I am like you though in that I got
interested in the 70's and watched the same shows. The first caesar
salad I made from a newspaper recipe called for a clove of garlic, and
I put in the whole head! I'd never seen garlic before I loved Jeff
Smith in the 80's and still use his 1st two books for some things.

good idea, maybe we can do that this winter when we get back in the
house,... as long as nobody makes that potatoe salad he made with french
fries... i could have done without seeing that... i could see pretty good,
was making lunch, he made some sausage dish which sounded great, then he
says potatoe salad, mixes everyhing in using fries for the potatoes, i
couldn't beleive it so went in and got close enough to see what he was
mixing... eeeiwy, looked horrible so i never even attempted that.

Lee
"sf" > wrote in message
...
> On Wed, 1 Jun 2011 07:52:48 -0500, "Storrmmee"
> > wrote:
>
>> man i LOVE Justin wilson.
>
> I do too... we should do a Justin Wilson cook along someday! Those
> who are chat shy won't go into the chat room, just check in here and
> post their final results... hopefully with a tinypic.
>
> --
>
> Today's mighty oak is just yesterday's nut that held its ground.

i don't mind lots of steps or ing. but i can't stand there and "stir
constantly" i can't stand still that long, lol,...

Lee
"jmcquown" > wrote in message
...
>
> "Storrmmee" > wrote in message
> ...
>> after reading about different people post about their mother's cooking I
>> started thinking about my roots of cooking, who influenced my recipe
>> design and my tastes in food, it is a very wide ranging pallet i have
>> been given by friends and family. I also learned my strengths and
>> weakness for skills and what my inate talents are from the same group of
>> people... so I am interested to hear more of people's journey to where
>> they are today.
>>
>> Lee
>>
> My mother didn't like cooking. She did the very basics just because it's
> what a 1950's housewife was expected to do. My father taught her how to
> make basic red (tomato) sauce. And she learned a few things from her
> mother. But by all accounts my grandmother didn't want children underfoot
> when she was in the kitchen. By the time my mother got married in 1951
> she was basically given a Betty Crocker cookbook and told to figure it
> out. LOL
>
> I was a little more curious. In my early 20's I watched The Frugal
> Gourmet (Jeff Smith) and The Galloping Gourmet (Graham Kerr - I believe he
> may have still been drinking then). Not so much Julia Child but I did
> catch a few of her later shows. I bought cookbooks and read them. I
> tried new things. There's no one real influence or particular taste or
> style.
>
> I still prefer to keep things simple. Give me a recipe with 20
> ingredients and 10 steps and I'm likely to skip it no matter how good it
> may be.
>
> Jill

i love the smell of liver, and the few bites i have managed to chew taste
pretty good, but my sistem rejects with extreme force, rather like a cat
projjectile vomiting bird feathers so i can't eat it, its the iron as a
vitamin with it does me the same way, i don't eat blood of an kind, Lee
"cshenk" > wrote in message
...
> Storrmmee wrote in rec.food.cooking:
>
>> after reading about different people post about their mother's
>> cooking I started thinking about my roots of cooking, who influenced
>> my recipe design and my tastes in food, it is a very wide ranging
>> pallet i have been given by friends and family. I also learned my
>> strengths and weakness for skills and what my inate talents are from
>> the same group of people... so I am interested to hear more of
>> people's journey to where they are today.
>
> Lee, Mom is a lovely woman, but she's not a 'cook' of the sort any here
> would recognize. It's not totally a joke that us kids prayed for TV
> dinners of the 70's and school lunches.
>
> I set out once I moved from home to experiment with at least 1 new food
> each trip to the grocery store. It was very easy as my experience was
> low. Mom's spice cabinet contained salt, rarely used black pepper, and
> cinnimon.
>
> I learned on my own by trying things. I am as unpicky as gou can find
> since my list of 'don't like' is: eyeballs, brains, liver (all of these
> have exceptions), american strong versions of collard, mustard greens
> (like thw asian milder ones well).
>
> Thats about it. Anything else in the veggie or animal kingdon is fair
> game.
>
> Oh, I don't get to eat much pork blood but that's because the pets
> start positively *howling* for their share and I always give in. It's
> just too fun to see them go eyeball deep and have to clean them up (my
> 14 year old 'puppy' is white on the face and loves to drip on the rug!).
>
> In the end? I hate almost all liver and I do not care to hear 'oh, you
> just havent had it made my way' and I dislike the idea of an eyeball
> looking back at me as an edible.

"Storrmmee" > ha scritto nel messaggio

>i don't mind lots of steps or ing. but i can't stand there and "stir
>constantly" i can't stand still that long, lol,...

No risotto for you!

my single attempt...could have probably been grounds for spousal abuse,...
fortunately he is the forgiving sort, Lee


"Giusi" > wrote in message
...
>
> "Storrmmee" > ha scritto nel messaggio
>
>>i don't mind lots of steps or ing. but i can't stand there and "stir
>>constantly" i can't stand still that long, lol,...
>
> No risotto for you!
>
>

"Dave Smith" > wrote in message
.com...
> On 01/06/2011 4:29 PM, jmcquown wrote:
>
>> My mother didn't like cooking. She did the very basics just because it's
>> what a 1950's housewife was expected to do. My father taught her how to
>> make basic red (tomato) sauce. And she learned a few things from her
>> mother. But by all accounts my grandmother didn't want children
>> underfoot when she was in the kitchen. By the time my mother got married
>> in 1951 she was basically given a Betty Crocker cookbook and told to
>> figure it out. LOL
>
> My mother was quite competent in the kitchen and was able to crank out
> seriously good food to feed a crowd without any fuss. She had a knack for
> baking, which she probabaly got from her father. My grandfather was the
> one who did the Christmas baking and prepared the big roast dinners.
>
Good for you! My mother hated cooking. She often asked where I got my
"cooking gene". LOL She got quite a few recipes from magazines and
newspaper articles.

>> catch a few of her later shows. I bought cookbooks and read them. I
>> tried new things. There's no one real influence or particular taste or
>> style.
>>
>> I still prefer to keep things simple. Give me a recipe with 20
>> ingredients and 10 steps and I'm likely to skip it no matter how good it
>> may be.
>
> Back to my comment about Kerr and styles of cooking, a lot of times
> recipes are much more involved than they need to be because the list all
> ingredients and every step and things could be much simpler if the recipe
> simply told you to use some basic procedure... for instance.... .
> a lot of recipes require some sort of thickener. A newbie would need to be
> told to melt some butter in a pot, add an equal amount of flour and to
> stir around for a minute or two. An experience cook would make some roux.
>
> If the recipe needed Bechemel sauce it would list the ingredients and
> steps to make the above roux and add milk, stirring constantly. Having
> learned to cook style, I would just make a white sauce using a roux.
>
But see, butter, flour, salt & pepper is a roux. You cook it longer to make
brown or dark roux for gumbo. Add milk and voila! white sauce IS bechamel.
Some cookbooks make it sound so complicated.

I do enjoy reading cookbooks

Jill