Question of the Day - Monday, May 16, 2022

MoochNNoodles

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Happy Monday... It's our last week of school and I am SO ready for a break!

DD had a bit of an "oopsie" live and learn moment with cooking yesterday. She had made grilled cheese sandwiches for herself and DS the other day; so when she asked to make some again I said sure! We were putting groceries and things away when DS came to find me and said "DD burned plastic on the stove." She let the wrapper of one cheese slice get too close to the burner. She had one edible but burnt sandwich on a plate. She told me she had forgotten to get the cheese out before she started making it. So I had her move to another burner while I tried to figure out how to calm the chaos... She had the pan on HIGH! I was like "uhhh first lets put this on medium heat..." and she said "That would have probably helped me a lot a few minutes ago..." :flail: She then make DS a very un-grilled grilled cheese. :flail: Poor kid! It wasn't THAT much plastic and I got it up ok. Live and learn! ;):lol:



When and How did you learn to cook?




I was in the kitchen with my Grandma from a young age but that was mostly for baking. I think I was 9 or so the first time I made a box of Kraft Macaroni and Cheese for myself. I still remember working in our tiny attic apartment kitchen while my mom laid on the couch with a bad headache a few feet away. Basically from then on I learned to cook by helping her and reading recipes. I spent time in my Grandma's kitchen too.
 

NY cat man

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I was probably 12 or 13 when I learned from my mother. It was basic stuff at first, of course, but eventually I learned to make bread from scratch, as well as spaghetti sauce (the secret is using stale beer). I still do some cooking from time to time, even now.
 

MonaLyssa33

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I don't know when I learned to cook, but I remember being interested in baking when I was 8 or 9 and I was pretty good at it. I remember my grandma teaching me to spray the sides of the pan, not just the bottom. I think when I was a little older I started helping make dinner more often and it just kind of went from there.
 

Neko-chan's mama

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I remember pretty much always being in the kitchen with my mom while she cooked dinner. Even though both my parents worked, mom still cooked almost every night. To this day, I don't like pre made foods. They are far too salty, yet bland at the same time. I find it kind of sad that the art of cooking is being lost here in the United States.
 

gilmargl

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It depends what you mean by "cook". From a very early age (8 onwards) my younger sister and I had to get up as soon as Dad set off for work. We had to clean shoes, make a fire (in winter), stoke up the boiler for hot water and cook breakfast for the rest of the family (6 children). Cooking breakfast was simple stuff: toast, bacon, scrambled egg or omelette, sausage - depending what was in the fridge to complement cereals and sometimes porridge.
"Teatime" (supper) we were also responsible for cheese on toast, or perhaps poached eggs, sardines, baked beans or just Marmite on toast or a simple salad. In those days my mother was not a good cook - we had barely any equipment - no measuring cups or spoons, no kitchen scales, and certainly no electrical gadgets. She cooked at lunchtime and didn't allow anyone in the kitchen so I didn't learn a lot from her. We could shell the peas, string the beans, make trifle and wash the lettuce but were never responsible for cooking. I'll never forget my first attempt at heating milk for custard. My sister made the same mistake a few years later!

Somehow (at 14 years old) I was, through necessity, able to do a roast dinner (with some help from Dad) on Sundays while my mother was in hospital. But a roast is easy!
As a student I didn't have the time or the money to do a roast everyday, so I had to teach myself to make cheap, quick meals.
Incidentally, once my mother could afford kitchen aids she became a wonderful cook and enjoyed trying out new recipes and cooking for everybody and anybody until she was 91 years old and decided to spend the rest of her life in a home. Unfortunately I didn't inherit her skill of managing to put something on the table at the drop of a hat!
 

Jem

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I don't really know a time I wasn't in the kitchen with my mom or grandmother, so my "learning to cook" was very gradual and constant. Even if I wasn't really participating, I would often just be sitting at the counter (at home) or table (at grandmother's) coloring or something but half watching, ready to be the "taster"...especially if there was gravy or a cheese sauce to be had.
 

cassiopea

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From my dad (He was the cook of the family, did all of our meals. He was excellent!). He started to teach me to cook around 8-10 methinks. My uncle also taught me a wee bit as well, he loved cooking and was also pretty great at it - his Thanksgiving and Christmas dinners are legendary. Eventually I proceeded to continue learning on my own. Baking I learned from my mom.

As mentioned in other threads I don't particularly enjoy cooking nor find it interesting as a topic (i.e. cooking shows etc) but grateful to have a grasp at it at least.
 

susanm9006

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I never did any actual meal cooking - that was usually my sister or my mother. But I was the baker of the family. I don’t remember how old I was, maybe nine or ten, but I got Betty Crockers Cookbook for Boys and Girls. What I loved about baking was that I could take things that we usually had in the house like flour and sugar and make delicious desserts. We also went to 4H and learned to make pies so there were many many apple pies.
 

DownTheLane

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I started assisting my mum in the kitchen. Doing easy, menial tasks while observing how she does it. The downside is, my mum isn't a great cook... 😬 and I don't really like doing it myself either.

Luckily my brother has discovered his love for it, and is slowly learning it himself. Now if only we had more similar tastes...
 

mani

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A girlfriend and I taught ourselves. We decided to get together at either her place or mine and cook after Sunday School. We would have been about 9. The first thing we made was a salad each in the shape of a girl in a frilly dress. :lol: The second was a quiche.
 
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