Blog, Blog Blog, Blog Blah Blah Blah

I kept asking my children about blogs and what defined a Blog. The only response they gave, (that I could in any way understand) was that they were places people shared their thoughts and perhaps common interests with others. Then I wondered why anyone would care about what I had to say. They told me to not to over-think it (like that’s even possible for me) and just write. So I am.

I like to cook and I'm from a large family who likes to cook. I was raised in Arizona and we lived in a small three bedroom house with one bathroom. Ah, tragic you say. Well, maybe not in most circumstances, but there were ten of us, so we learned to share in the most basic sense of the word.

I am the second oldest. My older sister and I went to school, came home and often started dinner before our mother returned from work. Very basic things at first, like putting a roast in the oven, or peeling vegetables. We soon graduated to more complex things, but my sister got stuck with a little more of the cooking.

Dinnertime was important, and at 4:30 we all gathered around a picnic table in the kitchen. I always thought a picnic table was a really creative way to accommodate so many people. Benches seat four or five, dependent on the size of the person. I don’t remember when we graduated to a table with chairs, but somewhere along the way we did.

It’s amazing how much I learned about cooking just from repetition. I got married at seventeen, left home, and had to learn to cook all over. This time without supervision, I realized how I should have been paying attention to details. The first chili I made was a mess of grease and anemic white stuff that was once hamburger, for example. But I kept cooking since I had no other choice, and somewhere along the way I got better.

I still like to cook and although I don’t cook fancy I think I cook pretty well. I like to compete in the State Fair, as does my husband, my sisters, nieces, daughters, and even my sisters' grandchildren. I also like to write, but find as I am getting older there is less that excites me and very little I feel passionate about, except perhaps a new recipe.