Tag: cooking
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Play is child’s work
“Play is often talked about as if it were a relief from serious learning. Play is really the work of childhood.” – Fred Rogers of “Mr. Rogers’ Neighborhood.” Given a chance for imperfection, play and work merged this summer. In St. Louis, the six-and-a-half-year-old granddaughter knew what she wanted to do when I came. She…
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And then they were gone
As I write this the Pennsylvania grandchildren are packing their suitcases, preparing for the long trip home. We will cross paths with their mother somewhere in Tennessee. It has been an intense month. These old folks enjoy every minute of having time with family, but having four additional people in the house for a month…
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Chef Mert experiments
Great rejoicing welcomed the letter providing a tuition scholarship to my son’s preferred graduate school. Quickly followed by anxiety as he looked for an affordable room to rent and considered the reality of planning, purchasing and preparing all of his own meals. Sure, he had saved money from his summer job, but routine living costs…
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Read the recipe
As soon as they walked in the door, I welcomed the visiting granddaughters with a challenge, “this time you have to choose and prepare all of the meals. You cannot just pour cereal for breakfast. You must fix something to eat.” I pointed them to food ingredients, measuring cups and mixing bowls. Even though I…
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mom made me cook
The year our little brother went to kindergarten, our mom got a job and handed my sister and me a list of instructions for making supper for the family. “Put the meat on to boil, add salt, pepper and an onion. Peel potatoes. Make a chocolate cake from the mix.” I figure my 11-months younger…
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Cooking ahead, just once
When I began working at the News-Times, my children had 10 days of summer vacation left. I thought it might be a problem keeping them occupied during the day. No problem, as far as they were concerned. They prefer to stay up late and sleep in until noon. They also preferred to not vacuum, not…