50 things...no. 6

"Cooking is an art and patience a virtue... Careful shopping, fresh ingredients and an unhurried approach are nearly all you need. There is one more thing - love. Love for food and love for those you invite to your table. With a combination of these things you can be an artist - not perhaps in the representational style of a Dutch master, but rather more like Gauguin, the naïve, or Van Gogh, the impressionist. Plates or pictures of sunshine taste of happiness and love."
~Keith Floyd



I am grateful for my mother for so many reasons. She taught me the value of the Golden Rule (that being nice really does matter). She gave me a sense of wonder about the world and a love & appreciation for nature...despite the fact that I did not get her green thumb. I inherited her love of reading, and I believe that I passed that on to my kids as well.


One of the things that I'm really thankful for is my mom's cooking...when you think of her, you think of her in the kitchen (or in the garden growing things to cook). She is like an artist with food. She can make the simplest meal taste like a gourmet feast. One of her favorite things to do is to go grocery shopping...she could spend hours in the food aisles. She loves to grow food, to can & jar fruit, to cook a delicious meal and to bake yummy desserts. She does it all with love!


Christmas morning wouldn't be the same without her chipped beef & toast with sliced tomatoes & onions. On Thanksgiving nothing rivals her homemade stuffing & gravy. When we have ham for Easter it wouldn't be complete without her macaroni & cheese and stewed tomatoes. And her spaghetti sauce...it's like liquid gold (priceless).


When you think of your mom, where do you picture her? What are the things she taught you?