When I was a little girl, I hated to cook! My wise Mother told me that when I had someone I loved to cook for, that would all change! I can only say that the cook I am today is because of the cook's I came from! Here's to you Mom, Grandma Kurtz and Grandma Foster--the best cooks in Adair County Iowa! Chocolate cakes, Bread with big chunks of good stuff and vegetables. My Grandma, Mom and myself all getting together in Grandma's big farm kitchen and putting up quarts and quarts of dill pickels. The pleasure and satisfaction I get from serving my own home grown fruits and veggies to family and guests. I once, in my first year of marriage, fryed a stewing hen! For you young gals and guys out there that have never seen a stewing hen in the super-market, that is an old hen that MUST be simmered a long time to make it tender enough to chew. They were very cheap, and I didn't see why I couldn't just fry one up for my company. Good thing they had young, strong teeth! Looking back, I'm amazed how good their manners were! No one complained!