I think the worst meal I ever cooked was liver and onions. My Mom could actually make that odd dish taste good, but the one time I tried it, ugh! So I took the leftovers out to the fenced in back yard and gave them to our German shepherd Bullet. He sniffed them, pushed them around with his nose, and then, he buried every single piece.   

  The first time I had barbecued goat was at a gathering with some friends and it wasn’t too bad. Of course, I didn’t know it was goat until I’d cleaned my plate and remarked that it was a tad different from the BBQ I usually ate, via Fresh Air in Jackson. I tried some deer at another gathering and it passed my strict taste buds. I did NOT eat the rabbit my first father-in-law cooked, because I still remembered him getting a ‘wolf’ out of it before he killed and then skinned the little creature. We three Rooks kids didn’t care to eat the chickens our mother let us raise in the backyard either, since we had named them and also fed them worms and bugs. 

  I don’t intend to eat any sushi or raw oysters, nor rare steaks of any kind. I did grow up eating Spam every month or so, and actually liked that interesting, but not so safe, canned meat. I always loved the salmon patties my Mom made us though, and she always got the salmon out of a couple of cans. She had a talent for making delicious food from a wide variety of fresh, canned and frozen goods. I’m glad that we always had long rows planted in the back yard and each of us had our own row to dig, plant, and weed and then pick from the fresh vegetables we’d grown. I know I’ve talked about how we were glad when she opened a can of English peas for Thanksgiving. We also loved the canned beets she would prepare occasionally; she’d add a little vinegar, let them sit in the refrigerator a few hours and then we’d enjoy them with our evening meal. We were always excited to eat a vegetable that had come out of a can.

  I have almost become able to make dressing that tastes like my Mom’s. Interestingly enough, I no longer cook cornbread, just buy a box of prepared stuffing mix, and last year I tried the Essential brand from Food Depot. I added some Essential cream of chicken soup, chopped an onion and some celery and baked it until the plastic knife I stuck in came out without any dressing attached. I cannot have Thanksgiving without gravy, dressing, and of course some cranberry sauce from a can, which I slice. Publix’s tastes as good as the name brand I used to buy. I still like to pinch pennies, as long as the product meets and sometimes exceeds my expectations.  

  My grandmothers were both great cooks. Grandmother Rooks was a caterer, made posh cakes, tea biscuits, and lots of delicious soups and stews for us to enjoy. Grandmother Ogletree made what we called cat head biscuits, and she cooked big pots of turtle soup, or Brunswick stew, she’d made from that year’s hog from their backyard. We never ate a hot dog or any fast food when we visited our grandparents in Washington and Crawfordville, Ga. I did take a trip there a few years ago so I could see where I’d started life, and the only place open that Thanksgiving Day in Washington, Ga. was a KFC.  

  I will always love great tasting foods, and of course Mt. Bethel’s cooks all amaze me when we gather for a ‘covered dish.’ Tastes like I’m back at my Mom’s table.  PTL!