Learning to COOK

When I first started to cook there were two, maybe three things that I had been taught (by former boyfriends) we didn't have much opportunity at home as Mom was a full-time kitchen guru - I lie, we were allowed to flatten the oatmeal cookies with a fork...
so there was a great recipe for Spaghetti sauce from someone who drove a red MG and a Chicken recipe from Freddie Moo Young that owed it's allegiance to Jamaican origins
Arriving in Frobisher Bay in 1960 with a Ukrainian Cookbook, from Saskatchewan, our first efforts were dismal - bread that landed like lead, so when John arrived for Christmas - we had bacon & eggs as I'd neglected to thaw the Turkey, and Frobisher had only one restaurant - The Eastie Coastie (run by a South African).
Help arrived in the form of Liddie Johnson the Dutch wife of one of the teachers, she introduced me to the art of the Indonesian Rice Table and it's numerous goodies.

When our posting was to Cape Dorset - we found the 2 volume set of Gourmet left by Alma Houston (Jim Houston's first wife) - and my education began. In those days there was no accommodation in the small settlements so we would act as hotel for whoever was visiting. It also meant we had to cook for them and what if the roast was ruined? Remembering the dishes of the Rice Table I'd search for something no one else had ever eaten hoping they wouldn't know the difference, it worked and thankfully due to Gourmet's great recipes the meal turned out very well.
We left the north after some very successful meals in the Fort Smith in the western Arctic, we landed in Victoria and with help from Auntie Al and my mom was able to accommodate more traditional fare.

The last chapter:
The boys were small and there was no Sesame Street so I'd plunk them down in front of Julia Child and The Galloping Gourmet - have a faded photo of them sitting in their little chairs as she tasted and stirred.
Today David makes a mean Cheesecake and wonderful Bread, while Stephen after finishing the Hotel & Restaurant training at Algonquin College went on to do do his Cordon Bleu, finishing at Claridges in London.
And so we keep on learning ... now me from them.