Eowyn

Novice Takes on Family Cooking

It was never much of a secret that cooking wasn't my thing. Shoes, international travel, languages, even restaurants, yes, but cooking? No.

My mother, consummate baker and incredible cook, was undoubtedly the first to feel disappointed in my lack of interest. As the daughter of a super-incredible cook whose name actually means "to cook," the stars were well-aligned for me to request a set of copper sauce pans for my seventh birthday, but it was not to be.

Julia Child is meant to have said, "I was 32 when I started cooking. Up until then, I just ate." I am in good company.

I do not know why Julia Child started cooking. In my case, it is my husband's fault. He recently began taking classes at the local community college, something he is trying to wind around his full-time job, not to mention: parenthood. The night before classes began, he gave me one of his severe French looks and announced, "You are going to have to start doing some of the cooking." Here I am: wife of a French gourmand, step-mother to a 9-year old vegetarian, complete louse in the kitchen.