{"id":733,"date":"2021-09-23T22:57:00","date_gmt":"2021-09-24T02:57:00","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/blog.fayegibbons.com\/?p=733"},"modified":"2021-09-23T23:57:32","modified_gmt":"2021-09-24T03:57:32","slug":"cooking-up-a-storm","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blog.fayegibbons.com\/?p=733","title":{"rendered":"COOKING UP A STORM"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

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Part of Faye’s Cookbook Collection<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

My latest book, HALLEY, awarded 2015 Jefferson Cup Honor for Historical Fiction, awarded the Moonbeam Silver Medal for Young Adult Fiction, and awarded the 2016 Frank Yerby Award for Fiction. Available at: NewSouth Books: www.newsouthbooks.com\/halley and Amazon.<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

When I first married I could cook two menu items: Kraft Spaghetti Dinner in a Box (with hamburger meat added for company) and Kraft Mac and Cheese in a Box (with store brand weiners on the side for company).\u00a0\u00a0Later, I added redneck soup (mix one can of Campbell\u2019\u2019s Cream of Mushroom Soup with one can of Campbell\u2019s Cream of Chicken Soup and heat) to my repertoire.\u00a0\u00a0I served with peanut butter sandwiches, store brand. My husband always carried Tums in his pocket.\u00a0\u00a0They didn\u2019t make store brand in THEM, and he needed the best money could buy.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

When we had our first son, I was so swept away by motherhood that I decided to learn to cook from scratch.\u00a0\u00a0My mother-in-law, a prize winning cook, was glad to share her recipes.\u00a0\u00a0No doubt she\u2019d been longing to for years!\u00a0\u00a0I collected recipes from the local extension office and bought every recipe collection put out by churches, schools, and Junior Leagues.\u00a0\u00a0Over the years I learned enough southern recipes to put out a decent meal, but I would never have given Julia Child or Martha Stewart\u2014or my mother-in-law\u2014any competition.\u00a0\u00a0Time passed. By 1990, when our second son left for college, I was tired of the same old, same old.\u00a0\u00a0So I took cooking classes with big plans of venturing out into\u00a0cuisine.\u00a0\u00a0I took classes in Mediterranean, then French, then Italian cooking, followed by several classes at William Sonoma.\u00a0\u00a0Of course I bought cookbooks during and after each class. My cookbook collection outgrew its allotted shelf, sprawled into a small bookcase, and then a second larger one.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

My kitchen equipment grew to include a Cuisinart, a fancy ice cream maker, an electric grill, Two waffle makers, a blender, a bread machine, a salad spinner and TWO electric pressure pots. I even bought a sour dough starter and began the never ending process of feeding it and making our own whole wheat bread.\u00a0\u00a0After we each put on about ten pounds, I slowed down a little on the bread-making. But the starter is still in the fridge, demanding to be fed on a regular basis.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

The main thing I learned is: cooking is hard work.\u00a0\u00a0Especially when it means changing the way you\u2019ve done everything for the last 30 years, and\u2014more important\u2014the results are sometimes inedible.\u00a0\u00a0My husband stocked up on Tums again, but he rarely complained, since he fully believed that this was leading to glorious food somewhere down the road.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Boy, was he wrong!\u00a0\u00a0I\u2019ve finally admitted that I simply don\u2019t want to cook anymore. Both my son\u2019s wives are wonderful cooks.\u00a0\u00a0Why can\u2019t we move next door to one of them and then drop in at mealtime? A good plan, but neither of my daughters in law have picked up on my hints. Until they do, I\u2019m in a fallback mode.\u00a0\u00a0I cook huge one-dish meals (stew, soup, casseroles) two or three times a week.\u00a0\u00a0I freeze enough to make several other meals through the week.\u00a0\u00a0Ten minutes in the microwave, then add a fruit or salad, and we\u2019ve got a meal.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Anybody want to buy a nearly-new cookbook collection? And if someone wants to steal a sourdough starter, it\u2019s on the top shelf of the refrigerator, right behind the triple washed arugula.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0Take the organic sweet miso and the tofu too.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

As for me, maybe I should check and see if Kraft still makes those dinners in a box.\u00a0\u00a0Tums anyone?<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Part of Faye’s Cookbook Collection My latest book, HALLEY, awarded 2015 Jefferson Cup Honor for Historical Fiction, awarded the Moonbeam Silver Medal for Young Adult Fiction, and awarded the 2016 Frank Yerby Award for Fiction. Available at: NewSouth Books: www.newsouthbooks.com\/halley … Continue reading →<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[1],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.fayegibbons.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/733"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.fayegibbons.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.fayegibbons.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.fayegibbons.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.fayegibbons.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=733"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/blog.fayegibbons.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/733\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":739,"href":"https:\/\/blog.fayegibbons.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/733\/revisions\/739"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.fayegibbons.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=733"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.fayegibbons.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=733"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.fayegibbons.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=733"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}