Stay-at-home moms can do great things to strengthen the family unit. They are few in numbers in this modern age, since Madison Avenue has convinced us that we need to own everything that we see. How can we not want everything with the easy credit? One very important thing for a mother or grandmother to do is to leave a legacy of cooking for their children. Girls and boys can both spend some time helping in the kitchen, learning to cook and clean up. Get them started at a young age and thank them for being such good helpers. They will grow up learning that helping in the kitchen is part of everyday life. Kids big enough to stand on a chair to get in the cookie jar can stand on a chair at the sink doing dishes, with a little supervision. This can continue with their own families. You may have heard the old saying, ‘an Apple a day keeps the doctor away’. Doctors know, well-balanced, home-cooked meals will also keep the Dr. away. Learning to cook right should be an educational priority today. Eating your meals out gets very costly while you’re giving up a lot of nutrition.
Children who grow up watching their mom or grandmother cooking learn a wealth of cooking information, that could never have come from cookbooks. Watching bread being made from scratch is something that stays in your memory. Making bread from a recipe can work but you will know that fresh bread wasn’t made with love by an experienced cook. Traditional family dishes can be passed from one generation to the next when children spend time in the kitchen learning to cook and then sit at the table together to eat.
Our family has been passing a very simple dish around our tables for generations. It originated in Norway, the Finnish name is Kala Mojakka. It is a simple potato soup made with milk, butter, potatoes and onions, and salmon. Us poor folks use the canned salmon but the memories are still there. If you can get fresh salmon to use ‘you are in for a genuine gourmet delight’. If you want to go New England style put in clams instead of salmon. Add some finally chopped carrots and celery if you like and I will still eat it, but not with a smile.
Many occupations require people to eat at restaurants. Truck drivers often learn to cook so they can make their own creations when they get home. Eating every meal on the road loses its appeal in a hurry. When they get home they can also give their wives a break from cooking, instead of taking them out to eat. Truck drivers end up eating in every kind of place imaginable. If you get a chance to visit with a truck driver, ask him or her about some of their dining out experiences. Here are a few samples. Some might even prompt anyone to learn to cook.
*Stopped for a famous Mexican combination plate, finest Truck Stop in New Mexico. The lettuce on the side of the plate starts moving, this big old cockroach crawls out from under the lettuce, peeks around and runs back to the kitchen.
*The roadside hamburger place where the fry cook steps out the back door to relieve himself and walks back in and starts flipping hamburgers again. There were no hand washing facilities outside or inside of that back door.
*A small-town Cafe out west, where a mouse, likes to watch people eat from his hole in the wall near the booth.
‘probably more than one’ Maybe each booth came with a mouse hole?
*The all-time most repulsive award winner is! The big fellow, who was even wearing a chef’s hat. He’s trying to do a half a dozen things at one time. It was either habit or his busy schedule. The guy blows his nose in his hand and wipes it on his apron. While standing at the grill!
Bon appétit
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