I wish I could say I learned to cook at my sainted Nana’s house or watched my mother lovingly prepare our meals but that never happened. My mother cooked for the family but there was no input from my sister or I. When dinner was served, we sat down, ate it and cleaned up. We had conversations during the meal but not about food. In fact, I don’t remember any curiosity about the meals at all. We ate to satisfy hunger.
So nobody was more surprised than me, when I married, bought my first cookbook and made my first meal (meatloaf, mashed potatoes and carrots with dill) that the meal turned out great and everyone loved my cooking. That comfort food dinner was inspired by my first purchased cookbook (Delights and Prejudices by James Beard) bought, as my husband still likes to point out, through a negative option book club. Many of you may remember those book clubs where you could buy six books for a $1 then pay full price every month for a new delivery. Beard’s book was a great first choice for me because it inspired me to cook and I love the connection between food, travel, culture and traditions.
After that first meal and the realization that I just might have some talent, I went on to buy many more cookbooks and cook, cook, cook. Through trial and error, my cooking improved and I began to understand the science of cooking and to develop my personal style.
Among the many classes I have taken, James Beard’s was the most exciting. Probably because it was my first. But Lydie Marshall (NYC and Nyons, France), Ann Howard, the New School for Social Research, the Silo in New Milford and many more on practically every subject taught me something new.
For a few years, I maintained a farm in Vermont with sheep, chickens, turkeys, Black Angus beef, a huge truck garden, a greenhouse, a pot bellied pig named Chloe, Morgan horses and a wild German shorthaired pointer. We were farm to table farmers before it was popular. Oh, there was a husband and two kids there somewhere!
Life is an adventure, there is always something new to learn, people to meet and feed and I usually take on more than I can chew. Welcome to my world!
Lila