No Excuse for Not Cooking . . .

After watching an episode of America's Worst Cook, I had to wonder about the mental capacity of these self-professed horrible keepers of the kitchen. I've always felt that if you can read, you can cook. Following basic recipes with a minimum of ingredients will usually provide one with an edible meal. Practice will eventually provide one with a better meal. When someone claims they can't even boil water, you have to wonder exactly how unmotivated they are that they find excuses to not provide nutritious food for themselves and their family.

My mother came from a culture when education came first so she got very little training or insight into the workings of a kitchen. She got married, she and my dad got hungry, they were living on an airman's salary . . . she had to learn to cook. The go-to cookbook for her was a big, fat one she found in some thrift shop. It was worn when she bought it and the pages, over the years, took on the fragile transparency of a well-used prayerbook or Bible. In some ways, it was right up there with those books as it what how she learned to sustain her family at the dinner table.

Naturally, she was not without mishaps and mistakes but, after the tears, they became the cooking legends of the family. My mother ended up being a great cook and it was because she wanted to provide and she bothered to take the time to read.

I got some training in the kitchen to a small extent but I found I liked to cook and bake and read my way to a certain competence in the culinary scope of the kitchen. Before I could rest on my accomplishments, I got married and my husband had certain allergies to some of the spice packets and such I used to cook meals. I started reading both the labels on the 'helping' stuff but researched how to make the items from scratch. You won't find a lot of canned or prepackaged items in my kitchen these days and it actually saves on the grocery budget.

Like just about anything in life, if you want to do it, you can do it . . . if you bother to work at it. I have had so many weird remarks made to me over the years because I enjoy being in the kitchen. "Your mother could cook so it's easy for you!" "You like being in the kitchen so it comes naturally to you." Uh, I could stand in the kitchen all day and unless I actually made an effort, nothing would happen. "You are a health nut and like to cook healthy." If you have a family, shouldn't YOU like to cook healthy, too? "My mother didn't teach me to cook so I'm hopeless in the kitchen." My mother became a working mother when I was seven so I learned a lot on my own if I was hungry enough. "Even if you didn't actually cook with your mother, you got your aptitude through osmosis." Okay, if one can absorb such knowledge through just being around cooks, a few trips to a gourmet restaurant and you'd be set for life, right?

I have to admit that having a husband and children was an extra push to cooking to the best of my ability. But, the fact that I was responsible for keeping people other than myself healthy, played a huge role in my desire to improve over the years. I figured that besides pleasing my family, I'd eventually have to report in to God about how I took care of the blessings He sent me.

Prelude to the Beginning . . .

The cardinals have gathered in Rome and the conclave to elect the new pope begins today. I imagine Emeritus Pope Benedict is most prayerful today as he remembers his time during the last papal election. I read the various articles and columns about all this and am glad the world doesn't get to vote on this important election. It is now a wait and see process. One wonders where they will be and what they will be doing when the white smoke plumes in the sky and we know the announcement is close at hand. There are many cardinals that would make a good successor to Pope Benedict but God's plans will make the final decision. We hope and pray.

I'm also feeling a bit old today as I count back on all the popes that I've 'lived' through to date. I remember listening to the radio and hearing the somber tone of the reporter saying, "Pope Pius XII is dead." I guess maturity and age played into my thoughts as I found the election of Pope Benedict the most exciting. I remember heading down the road for shopping and the announcer saying, "We have white smoke!" I made the fastest U-turn in history and headed back home to get my children gathered around to hear. With amazement, we heard that Cardinal Ratzinger had been elected and knew for sure that God is in charge because he was the most conservative in a world of liberalism.

So, this week is going to be interesting and anxious as we wait and pray for the cardinals who have the future of the church in their hands. They are locked away from the world with only their prayers and the Holy Spirit to keep them company.