Just Thinking – Counting on Cookbooks

by Joyce Moler

Today, as I write this, it is New Year’s day. Today my husband and I also celebrate our 35th wedding anniversary. We started 1975 as newlyweds living in a trailer at Harker Heights, Texas. My husband owned a small trailer park. There were three other homes parked to the left of ours. In one home was a German woman with an American husband and two vicious German Shephards. In another trailer was a Catholic family with several children and another young couple in the third trailer.

Three days after marrying we arrived back in Texas from West Virginia where a small wedding shower was given at a neighboring church. A small recipe box was given as a gift and the ladies provided recipes. One of the guests said she fixed potatoes every day as part of the meal. That suggestion stuck with me all these years, however we hardly ever have potatoes. What no one realized at this point was, I truly could not cook. I knew how to make bread. That’s it. No innate ability for cooking existed in any fiber of my being.

Also a few days after arriving in Texas, and landing in my new home, I purchased a paperback cookbook. It has since worn out, probably from not overuse, but several others have taken its place in my kitchen cupboard.

Along with a new cookbook, my father-in-law invited me to pick up some groceries from his gas and grocery store to stock my shelves. He was, of course, being nice but my embarrassment at selecting canned goods while under his watchful eye was a little intimidating. Picking up a few canned vegetables the only thought that ran through my mind was, “Oh my goodness, what is this woman feeding my son?” With no experience at buying groceries for the two of us, I felt like a groundhog on February 2nd — do I stick out my head or run back in the hole?

Honestly, my best contribution in the kitchen was boiling water. I figured if I could run water in the skillet and boil it, then I could add about any kind of meat and cook it. My husband ate more boot leather type of cooking than he deserved.

On another occasion, expecting company, I wanted to make bread dressing. This was before cooking shows on the food network were popular, so I visited my mother-in-law to seek her advice for making stuffing. She had always made cornbread rather than bread dressing, but she said to include a couple of eggs. With this helpful hint I went home and boiled two eggs, cut them up and added to the bread croutons. (You add raw eggs to dressing, not hard boiled ones, as any experienced cook will tell you.)

My abilities as a cook are not much different than 35 years ago, fortunately I have just learned to accumulate a number of cookbooks and recipes that suit my lack of cooking talents. You work with what you have. Betty Crocker knows how to cook and I know how to follow directions. Eggs can be boiled in water, not meat.

Joyce Moler can be contacted at  jmoler@verizon.net.