In my moms kitchen there was no messing around. She cooked for everyone day in and day out without skipping a beat. She was a real pleasure to watch when she was preparing the feasts for the both of us. After being in this kind of environment for so long you see where good food goes to great. It’s not always about the recipes. Although that does play a huge part, in my opinion it’s more about the love you put into the food. Yes, love was the word that explains my mothers cooking. The attention to detail was the key to her cooking great food. Whether it was her recipe or one that she inherited or found in one of her favorite magazines it was the thought, care and attention she put into it that made it great.

It didn’t matter what she was getting ready for. From the trips to the grocery store watching her select the food closely by inspecting at least a dozen choices than picking the best one, or standing looking at the meat through the glass at the butcher block, it was easy to see the difference between a great cook and a mediocre one. The careful selection of the right ingredients for each recipe was crucial to get it right. Then once those were selected, then it was time to break it all down and get out the cook ware.
So here’s how it went down. She would spend the time to get the good stuff at the store first. Then she would come home and get out all the necessary utensils. Her favorite mixer, spoons, measuring cups, knives, etc and get it all laid out.

Now here’s where it gets good. The food that is. She would take each ingredient and careful prepare it, by taking her favorite knife and cutting out the bad parts, peeling with fitness, then making sure that what ever it was that she was cutting ended up in the same size pieces. I think this is where the magic happened. The same size pieces so that every bite from that given recipe tasted the same every time. That way you could constantly improve or approve on the recipe.

Every thing she cooked was tasty and made sure that we were staying healthy and maintained our weight. If we were looking to lose weight she would cut out all the unhealthy fats and clean it up so it still tasted just as good, but just a little cleaner.