My Cooking by June Kosier

Mom never taught me how to cook.   She told me that my schoolwork was more important and she wanted me to concentrate on that. I think the real reason was she did not want her kitchen messed up.  I also think she did not like to cook, so she wanted “out of the kitchen” as fast as possible.

Mom had a hysterectomy when I was nineteen.  For some reason, I thought I could cook for my father while Mom was in the hospital for a week.  I decided to stick to easy things.  Boiled hot dogs and chips the first night. Dad said “When you are hungry, you can eat anything.”  Pan hamburgers and chips the second night.  Fried eggs and toast the third night.  Hot dog casserole the fourth night.  Dad said “When you are hungry, you can eat anything including your cooking, June.” You can guess the quality of the meals from Dad’s comments. I gave up cooking at that point and Dad and I had ice cream on Friday night.  He said something about a well-rounded diet included ice cream.  I never cooked for him again.

Apparently, my cooking did not improve over the years.

In the early 80’s I worked with a nurse named Penny who was an excellent cook and baker.  Some people are good at one or the other, but she was good at both.  She was determined to make a cook out of me.  She said we would start with an easy recipe with only three ingredients.  She suggested raisin popovers made with flour, water and, of course, raisins.  The plan was I would get golden raisin and flour on Saturday and make the popovers Sunday morning before 10 AM.  She would call me to find out how I liked them.   When she called, I told her they were kind of tasteless.  She said the raisins give them a sweet flavor.  I had to tell her that I had forgotten to put the raisins in.  She hung up the phone and that was the end of my cooking lessons.

Each Christmas the staff would draw names and buy a gag gift for that person and it would be given at the Christmas lunch which was a pot luck.  I always brought the soda or the paper goods. Alice, the dietitian, drew my name one year.  Besides being a dietitian, Alice is a gourmet cook.  She came by this talent while living in France. My gift was a cookbook entitled Three Ingredients or Less.  I still have it, and if I ever decide to cook again, I will get it out.  Alice recently sent me a recipe for cookies with only two ingredients.  I have yet to make them.