Page 15 - Robeson Living Fall 2017

with all the high-powered insecticides used in later years. learn everything Mama knew about country cooking. For
They saved their seeds from year to year and their gar- the next several years, we spent so many happy hours in
dens produced like crazy. I’ve run into problems the last the kitchen together and I was hooked on cooking. I wrote
few years because the seeds have been altered and harder down all her recipes and techniques plus started having
to grow. I would love to get my hands on some of the family dinners with me as the Top Chef and I loved it and
old-fashioned tomato seeds or plants and produce tomatoes still enjoy cooking. I feel so close to Mama when I am
like we did when I was growing up. cooking and feel like she is by my side guiding me even
though she passed away in 2003. I’ll be the first to admit
I have to be honest and admit that growing up I didn’t share I will never be the cook my Mama was because she was
my Mama’s love of cooking. The kitchen was the last place the best. My family and friends have always told me I was
I wanted to be except to eat Mama’s awesome food. My a close second but I think they were just being kind to me.
Mama tried to involve me in her cooking techniques and I also became a gardener and started growing my own
especially canning but being young and foolish, I wasn’t veggies and canning became my new hobby. I also freeze
interested in the least. I thought that going to restaurants some of my veggies but canning is my favorite thing to do.
was the best route and I did my share. I was on a first name There is more work involved in canning but the taste and
basis with every establishment in three counties or more. the shelf life of home canned food makes it so worth the
Oh, I helped prepare the vegetables to be canned or frozen extra work.
but I never took time to learn how to do any of it.
There are so many excellent country cooks in our county
One day many years later, Mama sat me down and told me and I’ll guarantee you, every one of them was trained by
I needed to learn how to cook all of her recipes and being their Moms or Grandmothers. They are carrying on their
the only girl, it would be left up to me to carry on and pre- family’s tradition of recipes that have been passed down
pare her special dishes for my brothers and let my home be through the ages and may that tradition never die…..
the hub for family gatherings in the future. I don’t know Happy Cooking!
when or how it happened but one day it hit me, I wanted to

Jackie O’Neil Designs

Jewelry, Snap Jewelry,

Handbags, Tunics,

Leggings, Gifts & More

I-95 Exit 22, Behind Wendy’s

910.536.1497

www.jackieoneildesigns.com

Robeson Living ~ Fall 2017