Best Cooker in the Whole Wide World

Labels

: Many, many years ago when I was a young mother, my three year old son was hanging on my legs as I was standing at the stove cooking dinner. He looked up at me and said, "Mommy, you're the best cooker in the whole wide world." Although food critics would probably vehemently disagree with such unabashed, biased praise (from a three year old), still, to this day, that phrase warms my heart.

"Best cooker in the whole wide world.": Mother of eight, I did basic cooking on a shoestring budget not out of choice but necessity. I had an array of dishes I produced daily, bare bones meals, often tasty and always substantial. "Cowboy stew" was the favorite of the three year old, more likely because of the name of the dish rather than the flavor, whatever works I say. Over the years I fed not only my own children but on a semi-regular basis lots of their friends too. I liked to cook. The adage I followed was "just throw another potato in the pot" if someone extra turned up as they often did. A friend of my oldest daughter remarked the other day, "If you had a dime for every neighbor kid you'd fed over the years, you'd probably be rich!" Not likely, but I did have a lot repeat customers, so I must have been doing something right.