9/27 Teacher

I learned much from watching my father cook as a little girl, because he did most of the cooking up until my parent's divorce. However, it was my sister, Danielle, that taught me the most. She was the one handling the cooking during those years post-divorce when I was actually engaged in learning to cook, instead of being a passive by stander. My sister loved to watch Food Network, and get new recipes anywhere she could. She was a subscriber to the Campbell's Kitchen recipe collection, that would send a new recipe to her email daily, and often sorted through cookbooks at Boarders (may the book chain rest in peace). It was my sister who would check over my shoulder during my first tentative steps into cooking and point out when meat was done thoroughly and how to tell if my pans were too hot.

Many of the recipes I learned from Danielle were simple, but they have served me well over the years. One of them - from that Campbell's email list I mentioned - is very literally just cut up chicken cooked in a skillet with cream of chicken soup and minute rice. It's a really simple dish, but when I left for college, I found that many of my friends loved it and asked for me to make it. One of my good friends moved to Maine and she said that she would miss the chicken and rice dish I made. I told her how to make it, how simple it was and she just smiled at me and said, "It still wouldn't be the same."

For that friend, that dinner made her think about cool winter nights, eating dinner with all of her friends (because I was living in the dorms at the time, I often went over to her house with a bunch of friends to cook and have good, homemade meals). For me, that meal always makes me think of my sister, and how she helped teach me to be an adult. How much of an impact on my life she has always been. She still teaches me things. Just a month ago, I went up to visit her and my mother, and Danielle taught me how to make homemade ice cream. I consider her one of the most influential people to my interest in food.