I really hate to tell you this but we are in the BLAH TIME of the year! You ask what is that. It is the time between Christmas which is winter and spring! I seem to get a little depressed after Christmas. The presents are all given away. The decorations are all put away. At least mine are, hope yours are. And really it is cold; can’t get outside and it’s too early for spring cleaning. You are tired of reading and talking on the phone. So the only thing left is COOK!

Yep, it’s time to get out that stack of recipes that you have clipped and never tired and get to cooking. I used to have an aunt that had a filing cabinet full of recipes she had collected. She was going to try them, WHEN SHE GOT AROUND TO IT! Well, bless her heart, she never did try all of them because a few years ago she passed away. But I can guarantee you; there are a lot of people in heaven that are eating pretty good at this time.

So now it’s time to get all your recipes out and start a grocery list. You know how I am about making a list. There is nothing that makes me angrier than to start to make my favorite recipe and you don’t have everything in the pantry you need. By this time, I can almost taste the food but you have to stop and go to the store to get what you don’t have. Most of you know when you live at the lake, that is no short trip. Like I have mentioned before, Wayne’s Place has saved my life at times. They stock a few groceries. But most of the time it is a trip to Lewisburg.

Okay, I have one more tale to tell you. I have a friend who lives out of state and for some time she has been remodeling her kitchen. They purchased a home that had a “DATED” kitchen. You know what that is; it’s one that the stove doesn’t work and the rest of the kitchen looks WELL USED! This did not bother her because they were remodeling the rest of the house first. Okay, the day came when it was time to think about the kitchen. She has been busy selecting great appliances and new cabinets. She even sent me a picture of the floor plan via e-mail. I just love my computer. I can even get pictures of it when she gets it finished.

Anyway, she called the other day and said, I have a real problem. I REALLY DON’T KNOW HOW TO COOK! Of course I knew this when she last visited, she didn’t even know how to use the basic utensils. Of course we spoke about the fact that she now had to purchase all the things that were needed to operate a kitchen. For some reason she thought just because she had an electric skillet and a crock pot, she could just start cooking

After it dawned on her that she could no longer say, “We have to go out eat because I don’t have a kitchen” she called me to say “PLEASE HELP. I DON’T KNOW HOW TO COOK!” So as I was on the phone with her, I assured her that I was going to send her some wonderful, easy recipes for her to cook for her husband. She really wants to cook. One again the old computer comes to the rescue. I will e-mail her simple instructions. So if you can read, most women can COOK.

You know it occurred to me that if you didn’t have a mother that taught you how to cook then how did you learn?

You see my mother cooked but she really didn’t like to do it. To her it was a chore. I will never forget the year that Chef Boyardee spaghetti mix came out in the grocery store. She thought she had died and gone to heaven. To this day, I am not really carried away with spaghetti. Once again I am dating myself, do you remember when that product came out on the market?

So, I know you are wondering how in the world I learned to cook. I had a wonderful mother in law! She made everything from scratch. Wonder where they got that saying? Anyway, there was one problem I had. She made an apricot nectar cake that I just loved. This was the first and only recipe where she used a “store bought” mix. She would always make it when we came home for a visit. I copied and made it when we went home. You guessed it! It FLOPPED and I got so mad I tore it up and threw it away. So when we went for another visit, she made it again and I decided I wanted to try one more time. You got it! IT FLOPPED AGAIN. So after I tore it up one more time I swore I would never try again. Well, I lied, after the third visit I went through the same routine again and guess what; I decided I would never in my life time try to make another Apricot Nectar Cake. To this day, I have never tried again.

The Hubby just had to get in on the act and say, “WOMAN, what is wrong; can’t you read? That’s when the fight started! I said “NO MORE APRICOT CAKE”. You will just have to enjoy it when went home.

Forgot to tell you, she would always bake one for us to take home. Isn’t that just like a mother in law? Always being a wonderful person. Hope each one of you either have one in your life now or had one in the past.

As usually, I have wandered again. We were talking about what you should do during this awful BLAH time between Christmas and spring. Put a smile on your HUBBY’S face by doing a little home cooking. It doesn’t have to be from “scratch”. They do make wonderful mixes that you can add to and make your home cooking better. It’s fun to cook when it is dark and dreary outside. You see you can’t get out and do anything else. Then you do not feel guilty about not cleaning your car, your fishing boat or getting the last of the leaves off your lawn.

See, I had to bring up boats and fishing. I cannot wait. But you already knew that.

Till next time, HAPPY COOKING LADIES AND MEN! I almost forgot to tell you the best part, THE HUBBY CAN COOK! And I am so nice; I let him do it in my kitchen. Bye now.