September 24, 2025
The first supper that I ever made in my life was bacon
and eggs. Yes, “breakfast for supper” was a popular option at our house when I
was a child and has continued to be so forever after. And while bacon was an
acceptable supper option back in the day, it was only used for breakfast for
very special occasions. For breakfast, if one was allowed to make an egg and
some meat for that meal back then, it was eggs and bologna.
The secret to using bologna as a fried breakfast meat
was that since the meat was round, one needed 4 small slices every
quarter-circle, so that when it was fried it would stay flat.
I was 10 when I attempted cooking my first
breakfast-for-supper supper, bacon and eggs—and I cooked the eggs first!
Boy, were those eggs chewy, and did I feel like a
failure by the time my mother got through giving me her honest opinion of my
efforts. But that chewing out (pardon the pun) didn’t defeat me. It made me get
better at cooking that meal, until I was the only one of the four of us living
in that old house on the Brock Road (except for Mother herself) considered to
be an adequate bacon chef.
In time, she would even brag to my uncle and aunt (her
brother and sister-in-law) about how melt-in-the-mouth crispy my bacon was. And
it was, every time.
I have always loved cooking. Like my mother before me,
I discovered a talent for looking at the selection of raw materials (food)
available and putting a meal together. David has always enjoyed the meals I
made us. Next to writing, cooking has been my greatest talent.
Don’t ask me to knit something—though I have in the
past, provided it was something truly basic like a scarf or a blanket. And
don’t ask me to crochet, because I really have never had any success there.
Graphic arts? A wonderful talent to have, though never one of mine.
But I can cook. Not fancy fare but good, comfort food,
and my prime rib roast has reduced the members of my family to drooling fans.
That established, it takes a lot more energy and focus
these days for me to put a meal together than it did even just five years ago.
And it may sound strange, but that’s something that I worry about. That
somehow, I might get to the point that I won’t be able to turn out a proper
meal. Oh, not so much physically. It’s the evolution of that unknown and
immeasurable quality called talent—when it comes to cooking, yes, but writing
as well.
Other than to keep pushing forward while accepting my
slower rate of progress when it comes to the latter, there is only one thing I
can think to do guard against losing my ability with the former.
I’m always looking for new recipes when online, with a
view to selecting ones I’d like to try.
My family rarely dislikes anything I make, and they
have their favorites, one of which is my meatloaf.
Making meatloaf for supper was a challenge when our
daughter, shortly after moving in with us, became vegan. But I was able to make
her a meatloaf using her “meatless” hamburger. She’s no longer vegan, so I’m
back to my making only one meatloaf instead of two when it’s on the menu.
Recently, I saw a meat loaf recipe by Ina Garten, whom
I’m sure many of you know of, and have likely followed online. The recipe was
different in several ways from my own, and I told my family to get ready,
because I was going to make it. For their part, while they couldn’t understand
why I would want to try another kind of meatloaf, they agreed to welcome
the new version.
I made it last Wednesday for supper, and I liked it!
It was quite different from my own, but very good. I followed her recipe
exactly and was met with success. More importantly, my husband and my daughter
both liked it, although daughter thought she preferred my version of the
classic comfort food.
Pleased with my success, I have my eyes open for my
next “new” recipe. I don’t understand the science of it all, but I do know I
use different parts of my brain for cooking than I do for writing and than I do
for other manual household tasks. To my own mind, those two activities—cooking
and writing—define me. Which means I’ll continue to keep practicing both for as
long as I am able to do so.
If you would like Ms. Garten’s recipe, you can find it
here: https://www.foodnetwork.com/recipes/ina-garten/meat-loaf-recipe-1921718
Love,
Morgan
http://www.bookstrand.com/morgan-ashbury
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