When did you start cooking?

[emeleel]

Okay, this is sort of a cafe-ish type question, prompted by the 10 year old cooking pineapple upside down cake:

When did you first start cooking, and if you remember, what was the first thing you cooked?

I was 8.5, we had just moved and my mom was trying to acquaint the cat with her new surroundings outside. Mom was carrying the cat, the dog got too excited, and well you can just about guess the rest. Kitty bit mom on the hand and it swelled like a balloon.

Anyway, it fell to me to make dinner that night. I don't remember the side dishes, but I remember the main course was oven "fried" chicken. I'd helped out with bits and pieces in the kitchen before, but never actually done that much before. It was lots of fun!

Now if I could just get OUT of the daily cooking responsibilities! LOL

[amykhar]

My mother was in and out of hospitals from the time I was 7 on. By the time I was 10, I was regularly preparing dinner. I don't remember the first meal that I cooked, but I do remember the first pound cake that I made.

I didn't mix it well enough, and one of the egg yolks baked whole in the cake. We just cut that slice out, and the rest of the cake was fine.

Amy

[pluckyduck]

Great question!

I first cooked...um, I can't remember a time that I didn't cook. I was always interested in cooking.

I know, for sure, that my first memory of cooking was in little toy size but "real" pans that my mom had bought for me. She wouldn't buy me an Easy Bake Oven (boo! bad mom!), but she did buy me pans and Easy Bake cake mixes.

I started reading cookbooks in earnest around 8, and demanding ingredients like veal and heavy cream. God bless my mom, she never said no.

Andrea

[conradd]

My first "all by myself" cooking excursion was a batch of muffins from the Betty Crocker Picture Cookbook. I was 5 years old and my mom stayed out of the kitchen while Little Miss Independence covered the counters and floor with flour. They were wonderful, or at least that's what I remember.

Deb

[magenta321]

I remember that in first grade I started cooking eggs for myself. I don't remeber what else though.

I also remember making my own birthday cake as a kid. I don't remember how old I was, but I was prerry young. The reciepe called for 1/3 cup of oil, but I couldn't find it on the measuring cup, so I put in 1 1/3 cups of oil! Ack! Let's just say my cake was oozing.

About the same time that the credit cards were maxed out and I couldn't eat out anymore.

Amazing what you can make out of ketchup packets and crackers.

[hadassahchana[$]]

I'm almost embarrassed to admit this- I didn't cook at all while growing up. In college, I had a roommate who was similarly talented. The house specialty was a choice of:
a)Campbell's Tomato soup
b) Lucky Charms
c) Swanson frozen chicken pies


Then, I got married , and while Kevin could cook well enough to survive..well, let's just say that I started learning to cook after he made 'Tuna Noodle Bean Surprise' - that was more than surprising!

Now I'm a good cook- curries are my specialty.

Cindy

[emeleel]

When I was working before I got married, my co-worker had a daughter my age. She never taught her to cook - she was one of these moms that wanted to indulge her daughter in all the things she didn't get to do. Dance lessons, music, cheerleading, etc.

She had to call her mom one day and ask her how to boil eggs.

She was working in a daycare and was supposed to bring eggs for the kids to dye in class the next day for Easter, and the poor girl didn't know how to boil eggs!

[purplewiz]

I suppose I'm a late cooking bloomer. While I did do some cooking growing up, they were mostly recipes out of Betty Crocker's "Boys and Girls Cookbook", made with my mother hounding me about everything I was doing wrong the entire time. It's probably more my mother's doing that I didn't really learn much cooking while growing up - she knew how to do it better, so I let her.

I was forcibly inspired to learn my senior year of college when I moved off campus. As part of the whole agreement with my folks, they only paid for 10 meals a week - the rest of the time I was on my own. I had a job, and my best friend had a kitchen, so he and I split meals and learned to cook. The most important thing I learned that year is that if I'm going to have to eat it, it's going to be good, so I'm going to learn to cook.

I was given "The Good Housekeeping Illustrated Cookbook" that year for Christmas (I still recommend this book as the best beginner book I've ever read), and decided to start off with a bang by making cream puffs. They were FANTASTIC - looked like they came from a bakery - and I was hooked for life. And all I did was follow the instructions!

[bermudabum]

when I started cooking on my own, but then again I was in the kitchen helping since even before starting kindergarden. Be it mixing ingredients, stirring a pan of soup or even just shaping hamburger into patties or dropping cookie dough onto the sheet, I have always been in the kitchen.

By the time my senior year rolled around I was preparing braised vegtables to go with Lumpia and fried rice as well as broiled rock lobster with a nice Pilaf and salad complete with a homemade ginger dressing.

When I married my ex I was ever so thankful for having learned so much at home, especially since my ex's idea of cooking was Mac N Cheese and corn dogs or Frozen prepared chicken baked in the oven with french fries.

Needless to say I continue cooking today. My favorites include a wonderful spinache lasagna served with homemade onion and garlic bread or fresh made Pasta- Ravioli with a blended stuffing that includes ricotta, parmesan, ground pork sausage and select spices. There is simply no comparing fresh made pasta that I make myself to what can be bought comercially. I will admit however no two batches of pasta for me has turned out exactly the same so the consistency you get buying it on the market is far more regulated. Then again I can make my own variations such as my Tomato Basil pasta which I serve with fresh crushed garlic sauteed in olive oil and garnished with some fresh oregano and Romano cheese.

Some of my friends prefer my more simpler recipes however such as my Macaroni (ready Cut noodles 16 oz box), cheese (either cheddar or a cheddar and colby jack, about 3 cups) a touch of margarine and tomatoe (simple canned italian style or better yet some spicy Rotel tomates one 15 oz can to two depending on preference) casserole. They gobble this one up so fast I almost never have left overs for lunch yet alone some for a throw together meal on busy evenings. I just cook the noodles, drain, add about 1/4 to 1/3 cup margarine in the pan, pour half into a stoneware bowl, cover with half the cheese, add the rest of the noodles, pour the tomatoes over it all then top with the rest of the cheese, pop it in the oven or microwave till the cheese is melted and serve.

Anybody hungry yet?

Me thinks- Steaks on the barbecue and pasta salad for dinner tonight, maybe with some fresh veggies outta the garden, the zucini could make for an interesting pasta!

[sylvanb]

I "helped" at my mom's elbow from infancy, cooked my first full meal at age 9 or so out of some kid magazine: meatloaf, baked potatoes, green beans. Soon took over cooking as much as possible to get out of doing dishes. Love to cook, love to feed people. Come for dinner! (Well, OK, we're having Domino's tonight).

But my favorite learning-to-cook story is my daughter's. She always resisted learning to cook. Went away to school, got assigned to kitchen for her work-study. First vacation home, I said, "Great, now you can cook for us!" She looked shocked, and said, "Oh, no, I only know how to cook for 200!"

[jenninca]

Ick! I am NOT a cook. I consider Hamburger Helper to be a good meal. I guess I've never gotten a lot of practice because I've always only cooked for myself, and it's really depressing to make a big meal and then have to eat it for the next five days. Besides, doesn't a big bowl of microwave popcorn count as dinner?

Cindy
who will have to learn to cook for real at some point

[bermudabum]

Jennica,

I love to cook, I always have. The reason I love to cook has more to do with the fact I don't cook for myself but instead for people I care about. When I was growing up, I enjoyed it because my family, primarily mom and I, did it together. When I got married I cook for my now ex, then my children. Now I continue to cook for those I love. My children and friends fill my home and give me reason to cook. I don't cook to eat.

My children will be leaving this weekend for summer visitation with their mother. They will be gone for 8 miserable weeks. I might not cook more than a simple egg or who knows I might throw a blowout dinner for the woman I love. I never could cook for just myself, I might as well just throw a sandwich together with no one to enjoy the meal with me.