Cooking At Home  

All happiness depends on a leisurely breakfast.  ~John Gunther

An Enjoyable Hobby, Pastime & Necessity!

 

Did You Know? - Cooking is the act of preparing food for eating by the application of heat. It encompasses a vast range of methods, tools and combinations of ingredients to alter the flavor or digestibility of food. It is the process of selecting, measuring and combining of ingredients in an ordered procedure in an effort to achieve the desired result. Factors affecting the final outcome include the variability of ingredients, ambient conditions, tools, and the skill of the individual doing the actual cooking.

It Starts In The Garden

Gardening and cooking with the Liles
We go to the local nurseries to gather seeds and plants

Gardening and cooking with the Liles
We then prepare the garden and we do it in phases so we always have something going on

Gardening and cooking with the Liles
The broccoli is beautiful

Did You Know? - Broccoli is a plant in the cabbage family, whose large flower head is used as a vegetable. The word broccoli, from the Italian plural of broccolo, refers to "the flowering top of a cabbage". Broccoli is usually boiled or steamed but may be eaten raw and has become popular as a raw vegetable in hors d'œuvre trays. The leaves may also be eaten.

Gardening and cooking with the Liles
The mulch is made of straw and we use about 5-6 bales a year mulching all the gardens around our home

Home Cooking

"Home cooking is a catalyst that brings people together. We are losing the daily ritual of sitting down around the table (without the intrusion of television), of having the opportunity to interact, to share our experiences and concerns, to listen to others.

Home kitchens, despite the increase in designer appliances and cabinetry, are mostly quiet and empty today. Strangers are preparing much of our food.


And our supermarkets, which once considered restaurants and fast-food places the enemy, have joined the trend by enlarging their delis and offering ready-to-eat food they call "home-replacement meals."

But bringing ready-cooked meals home is not the same as cooking in your own kitchen, where you are in control of the ingredients you use, where you fill the house with good cooking smells, and where you all share in a single dish, taking a helping and passing the platter on to your neighbor. Nothing can replace that." — Marion Cunningham, from the introduction to Lost Recipes.

Around Our House

Sue has a great hobby and it is called cooking. Paul had a matching hobby, eating and gardening!

On this site we will share some of the receipts we use to create meals.  See our favorites such as roasted-squash and home-made tomato sauce .

We grow our own veggies, please visit our little garden .

Cooking classes at home!
Chop chop slice slice! Cooking classes circa 1903.

1928 - Progress is being made, electric is being used.
Chop chop slice slice! Progress is being made. Electric is being used in 1928!

1928
Chop chop slice slice! Electric light bulbs and other modern
marvels being used in 1928!

At home!
Let's cook

Why This hobby?

Easy, it allows creativity.  Taking the results from our garden, cleaning whatever we picked, and then saying to herself "What can I do with this?"  It's better than a puzzle and a lot better tasting!

Quotes...

"Cooking is like love. It should be entered into with abandon or not at all." - Harriet Van Horne

"I feel a recipe is only a theme, which an intelligent cook can play each time with a variation." - Madam Benoit

“Nouvelle Cuisine, roughly translated, means: I can't believe I paid ninety-six dollars and I'm still hungry.” - Mike Cain

"The highway is replete with culinary land mines disguised as quaint local restaurants that carry such reassuring names as Millie's, Pop's and Capt'n Dick's". - Bryan Miller

"A good cook is like a sorceress who dispenses happiness." - Elsa Schiapirelli

"My mother's menu consisted of two choices: Take it or leave it." - Buddy Hackett

Making Tomato Sauce  July 2008

A good cook is the peculiar gift of the gods. He must be a perfect creature from the brain to the palate, from the palate to the finger's end. ~ Walter Savage Landor

Kissing don't last: cookery do. ~ George Meredith

Cooking is like love. It should be entered into with abandon or not at all. ~ Harriet Van Horne

Savory seasonings stimulate the appetite. ~ Latin Proverb

Fish, to taste right, must swim three times -- in water, in butter and in wine. ~ Polish Proverb

Man is what he eats. ~ German Proverb