I grew up a meat-and-potatoes kid on a 100-acre farm where my mother's parents raised Black Angus cattle. We had a nice-sized veggie garden, and quite a # of acres of corn, mostly for feed for the cattle, along with timothy and clover that was baled for feed. We canned our own veggies, like corn, green beans, dried beans for soup, or fruits purchased at an orchard, such as peaches.
Of course, this was in the dinosaur ages before cell phones (yes, we had a dial phone), I-pods (again, we had 45 and 33 rpm vinyl record albums to go along with tape cassettes). This was even before <gasp> CDs or VCRs, so not even beta, let alone a DVR. And horror of horrors, we could only receive 3 channels on the TV with any regularity. No cable, and LONG before Food Network or the Cooking Channel. The best you could hope for was that PBS would be viewable that day, and you'd be able to watch Julia Child or Graham Kerr (the Galloping Gourmet).
Meals were simple, and they were eaten at home, not in a restaurant. We had to drive at least 20 minutes to even go to the closest McDonald's, not that that is a "treat" any longer. And I was 16 before I even ate pizza. Hard to believe what a prominent presence it takes in my life lately.
My mother cooked pork thoroughly, to a bone-dry dark brown, and we needn't discuss the nearly black and always dried out beef that dominated our dining choices, since we always had the freezer full of packages of our home-raised beef. Her grey cubed steak was a thing of legends, edible only when thickly coated with a layer of Open Pit BBQ sauce. It was typically paired with either mashed potatoes or a boxed mac-and-cheese, the tiniest connection I had to "Italian" - boxed pasta. Mom would literally gag if she saw the medium-rare I typically go for these days when dining on beef, and most certainly would not eat the lightly-pink toned pork we are able to prepare safely today.
Mercifully, my tastes have changed, or rather, as I've matured and moved away from that immediate area, I've been exposed to and allowed to pursue so many other foods besides the limited range I grew up eating. I never would have had any exposure to Chinese, Mexican, or even Italian, let alone Thai, Indian, Brazilian, or any of the many other cuisines I'm now fairly comfortable calling dinner. The closest I may have gotten to rice is once I'm fairly certain Mom used it to make porcupine balls (meatballs with rice inside). Ooh, let's live it up and be adventurous tonight! Hope my stomach can handle the variety...
I consider myself quite thankful that I got out of the Podunk village I was raised in when I did, 'cuz otherwise I'd probably live in some low-rental area, dining on hot dogs, French fries, and mac & cheese all the time. Not that I'm at ALL a city girl, but when you had to drive nearly an hour to get to Cleveland (and this was before it blossomed into the food destination it is becoming), you didn't have much variety. I mean, the only "restaurant" in my hometown was a DQ, and as I recall, they only served soft-serve, and not even the hot dogs, burgers, or chicken you can now get at some of them. This was a time before even the Blizzard was available, so your choices were vanilla or chocolate, with hot fudge, caramel, or strawberry sauce.
This blog will not be strictly about my cookbook project, but you'll experience the intertwining of some of my other hobbies, from traveling to photography to wine to restaurants, and possibly even some crafting, i.e. scrapbooking. I don't expect a following, so essentially this will most likely become my own nearly-private journal, and that's okay. I'm undertaking this because I want to feel more alive again, and I have to admit, I've been feeling pretty jazzed ever since I meshed this idea together a couple of weeks ago. It's giving me a sense of accomplishment that I'm setting out on this fascinating (to me) endeavor.
Next post will likely expose you to the fleshing out of the aspects of exactly how I'm thinking this project will proceed, once I get into the actual cooking portion. There are just so many variables to choose from, but I believe I'm rapidly narrowing the possibilities down to one or two that are the most feasible approach(es) to take.
Ciao for now, and go out this week and try some new dishes you'd never even considered before!
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