But she did pass on to me (from her mom), how to cut up a chicken and make broth from the bones.
We made pumpkin pies from scratch for Thanksgiving, and ate meat loaf on weeknights. She taught me how to sew on a button, and my sister and I went to sewing lessons (at the Singer store in downtown Austin), and learned how to sew there using a machine (not a skill that I've carried on).
I loved cooking, and cooked my first meal for our family at ~ 12. It was chicken curry. I remember vividly the small kitchen in the duplex where we lived then. I was proud of the results.
My mom had gone back to school to finish her degree and had started studying for her MS in Educational Psychology.
She didn't teach me how to garden -- I think she'd had enough growing up picking the rows of beans, etc. for her mother to can, so it wasn't appealing. And she and my dad were totally bemused, I think, with my interest in plants at an early age (I tried to plant some onions, etc. in a totally unsuitable site above our house and they "tricked" me by putting in a sprouting grocery store onion, probably to encourage me, now that I look back).
She's now been gone for 14 years as of today. So I'm remembering her. She was special.
Thanks, Mom.
