Jack learned from his Mom and trial and error. If something sounds good, keep track of what you do and if it turns out good, you can do it again. Listen to other people talking about cooking, if what they did sounded good, he would try it and maybe change something if it sounded better.

I learned from my grandmother and cooked for my family, I was the oldest of eight children, used recipes and played with them to change things so they tasted different. Leftovers were a large part of our meals. I had a friend, Kitty, who taught me even more after I was married. She taught me about spices and different food combinations. The rest was trial and error.

Most of us have had poor memory spells while we're cooking. I put salt and pepper in a potato soup twice and that ended up being two batches of soup in a

hurry. We froze the extra for a fast food meal when we needed it. I have made batches of overpeppered sausage and have labeled it so it will only be used in casseroles or soups where NO other seasoning will be added. Its fun when you start to do your own thing. Really healthy, but watch out for the mistakes. They can really knock your socks off. To much hot pepper will burn your tongue for about an hour. Sugar helps, but ouch, what a lesson on what not to do next time.

Jack and I cook together. We now do all our own foods from the chicken in the yard to the spices in the herb bed and the veges in the garden and the fruits on the bushes and trees.

We can, dry, freeze and do root cellaring. The rest is pretty easy. There is nothing better on a cold NY winter evening than a big hearty soup with homemade bread and top this off with an apple crisp with real cream on top. Yummy!!