One Cook Versus Another

The first one cooked fried zucchini, okra and green tomatoes.

The second one made pasta salad with pesto and artichokes.

One was known for her brown beans and corn bread.

The other for award winning shrimp and spinach pizza.

One couldn’t get the homemade glazed doughnuts out of the fryer before they were gobbled up.

The second one could hardly get the Jambalaya on the table because everybody wanted to sample it.

The first one baked chocolate, coconut cream and banana cream pies worth fighting over.

The second one made homemade pasta that was simply the best.

Although I refused to eat the liver and onions, my Dad never missed that meal.

The crawfish etouffee was an acquired taste, but she prepared it so well.

The one made apple butter from the apples in her yard and was the best I ever had.

The other one taught me to make shrimp artichoke fettuccini, but hers is still the best.

The huge rolls that the first one made, I have never been able to replicate.

But of course the Greek hamburgers made by the other one are scrumptious.

The first one canned everything in her garden: green beans, pickles and hot peppers that we enjoyed all winter long.

The other one roasts her own garlic and then uses it in mashed potatoes.

As I compared these two people’s cooking specialties I realized that one cooked foods that were popular in the 1950’s and 1960’s. The other one prepared foods that are more popular today.

The first one was my grandmother. She never measured anything—a pinch of this and a splash of that. I don’t think she even owned a cookbook.

The other one is my sister-in-law who follows a recipe and then adds a little of this and a little of that and makes it unbelievably good. She has a pantry full of cookbooks, which she would set in an acrylic cookbook holder while she cooked. Although, I noticed that she now uses her IPad for recipes.

Today’s gift was to send her a wooden IPad holder so that she can prop it up and read the recipe as she cooks. Although both cooks could create scrumptious food in the kitchen, I am in awe of the timeless talent of each one.

In Giving and Enjoying Good Food,

Robin