I love my daughter, and if she were to read this, she would probably dis-own me. She always wanted to cook, but she wanted to do it her way.

I was sick for a couple of days, and she wanted to help me out, as well as surprise me. She must have been all of eight. She had two younger brothers, one was six, and the other one was two.

She decided to bake a cake. I had no idea what was going on in my kitchen. She wasn't allowed to turn the oven on, so I guess she was going to make it in her susie home maker oven. She had everything in that cake but the kitchen sink. Salt, pepper, cinnamon, eggs, milk. You name it, she added it.

Bless her heart, she tried so hard, and my kitchen was a total disaster. But the thought was precious. She wanted to do everything by herself from the time she was little. She tried to make french toast while I was at work one day, which was prohibited. She was suppose to wait till my mom and my niece got up. Then they would make it together.

She had everything out and ready, she put the grease in the skillet, and was waiting for it to heat up. Well, it got a little too hot, and started smoking. She reacted quickly, but the grease was much too hot.

The skillet ignited in mid air, with her holding it. She was screaming from the fear, and the fire. She couldn't get it to the sink, so she sat it down on the carpet. She proceeded to put the fire out, with the help of my neighbor.

The neighbor heard her cries, and came running up. Thank the Lord, she didn't have one burn on her, not even a grease spatter. She knew then, why I didn't want her cooking while I was gone.

My mother was sitting on the step with her when I got home. She was so afraid of being in trouble. I checked her over to make sure she was okay. I knew my mother already had, I was just being a mom.

She learned a hard lesson without any punishment. I can replace a skillet, and a carpet, but I couldn't have replaced my daughter. It could have been tragic, but she was okay. Thank the Lord.

My daughter married young, but still hadn't mastered cooking. She knew the basics. Like I did. Macaroni and cheese, all brides favorite first meal. Hot dogs, etc. She decided to cook a real meal one day, for her husband. In the process of fixing her meal, I got this phone call.

She said; "Mom, how do you make gravy?" I told her it depended on what kind of meat she was cooking. She was trying to make white gravy, so she ask me; "What's that white stuff you put in gravy." I told her, I used cornstarch for roast gravy, and flour for chicken gravy. She then ask me; "Mom don't you use baking soda?" In the background I could hear her husband saying.(Typical man) "See, I told you so."

She turned out to be a fabulous cook, and she can cook anything. She makes the best lasagna in the world. She never gave up trying. A lot of it she learned by trial and error. Shoot, I'm still making errors. I sure can't cook like her. She makes me proud. And she really enjoys cooking, especially on special holidays. She puts out a feast.

I always said, I doubt that her husband ever had heartburn in his life. Baking soda gravy could be the cure. We don't know.

Learn more about this author, Candy Jules.
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