Cooking, the early years

The first thing I can remember my mom letting me make by my self was salad. We went on a picnic at the little park the the softball field in Snowflake. All we ate was that salad and I was so proud. It was just a regular salad. Lettuce and tomatoes, that may have been it. What I do remember was the dressing. Mayonnaise and pepper, yep that's it. Yum yum! :) I thought it was great and some how my mom kept a straight face when she told me she liked it. Soon after that I started mixing things together and found that by mixing ketchup, mayo and pickle relish it tasted a whole lot like Thousand Island dressing. I remember making a lot of salads in my early years. I remember in cub scouts cooking a lot of crawdads. Cooking wild asparagus I picked along the ditch bank. Cooking a lot of doves I shot with my bb gun. And tin foil dinners.

In Jr High I made two good friends, Brad and Wes. Every Saturday we walked the banks of Silver Creek looking for ducks. Usually we killed 2 of 3 and cooked them with lemon pepper. We thought they were great, and they really were.

At an early age I became my grandpas buddy. I spent every break from school I could with him and my grandma. We cooked quite a bit of quail, rabbits and chicken in a dutch oven. I watched him and caught on really quick what and how to do it. I really miss him!! Thanks to the time he spent letting me be his buddy there aren't many things I cant cook in a butch oven.

Then I went on a mission to Brazil. About half the areas I was in didn't have people to feed us. I was a pretty good cook by this time. I did the cooking and my companions did the cleaning. I would take that trade any time!!

Fast forward two years, I get married to a beautiful girl who also likes to cook, but she was nice enough to let me cook sometimes. Have two very different ways of cooking. I make the things I watched my mom and dad cook. I like the old tried and true. She likes to try new things. I fought it a little in the beginning, but do you know what. It kinda grew on me and I like to try new things sometimes too.

Now its the next generations turn. My oldest two daughters are always asking to cook. The last two years Santa has drought the second oldest now 10 a box of mixes and a kids cook book. I'm sorry to say I haven't been as good at letting them try cooking as my mom was, but I have been doing better.

Thanks mom and dad!! Thanks grandma and grandpa H!! For taking the time to teach me to love cooking. My dad is a great cook. There aren't many things he cant cook really well and a little of that has rubbed off on me.

That's my story, nothing extra ordinary. I just like food and it shows, just look at me. :)