COOKING LESSONS

 

 I was not a great cook when we got married, much to John's surprise.  After all, he'd married a Home Ec. major, right?  Unfortunately for him, my specialty was Clothing & Textiles, not Nutrition, which meant I had to take organic chemistry (home ec. being a B.S. degree at that time) but not any cooking classes.  I hadn't picked up much from my mother either, for though she loved to bake, when it came to putting dinner on the table night after night, let's just say, her heart wasn't really in it.  So, she used every convenience product they came up with, and we ate out.  A lot.

Well, my heart was in it, but when it came to cooking from scratch (what other choice did I have?) my only experience was when it was my turn to cook at the co-op I lived in those last two years of college.  I had collected a few good recipes there, but they were mostly stews and casseroles that served 20 or 30 people!  Soooo, my only choice was to pay very close attention to the women around me.  Whenever we were invited to someone's house for dinner, I'd take note of those things John really liked, then I'd go back later to get the recipe, and maybe even a cooking lesson.  You had to be careful with my hubby though, because he wasn't always 100% honest about what he liked and didn't.

Miss N. (right) and two of the wives from Louisiana, who all knew a thing or two about cooking!

Back when we lived at the beach, one of our neighbors was Miss N., and to welcome us, she brought over a big bowl of still-warm, home-made banana pudding.  The next time John ran into her, he thanked her and told her it was very good.  What she didn't know was that he was basing that opinion upon my report, for he wouldn't touch banana pudding with a ten-foot pole!  She brought him a big ol' bowl of it almost every week, from then on.  

Later, when we had all moved into houses, N. & L. had us over for supper one night, and she served us a very simple cucumber salad.  The salads I grew up on were always iceberg lettuce with bottled dressing, so I was shocked by how much I loved this simple country salad -- even more shocked when John took two or three helpings!  In fact, that salad might just have been the catalyst -- the thing that opened my eyes to what it meant to eat real food -- and I still use that recipe on a regular basis, to this very day.

The other thing that improved my cooking immeasurably was a book.  It was kind of like one of those Junior League or church circle cookbooks, but it was published by a chapter of the American Women's Association.  It was put together by women who were living in S.E. Asia at the time, and not only did they give you their favorite recipes, they also taught you how to substitute, improvise, or make from scratch the many, many things that weren't available locally, and, how to prepare some of the yummy local dishes that weren't going to be available once we went home -- the single best purchase I ever made!

Miss N.'s Onion and Cucumber Salad

Combine 1/2 c. white vinegar, 1/2 c. water, 2 tablespoons of sugar, and 1/4 teaspoon salt in a small bowl.  Whisk together until the sugar and salt have dissolved completely.

Slice two small or one large cucumber very thinly and place in a medium bowl.  (Peel it first if you like, or just run the tines of a fork down it, all the way around).  Add 1/2 onion, thinly sliced.  Pour dressing over the vegetables and stir to combine.  Cover and chill in refrigerator for a couple of hours before serving.