[Terry L Smith]

Dear Sarge,

I helped in the kitchen, but some times it was Mom’s ‘Castle of Solitude’.

Some times, even now, it takes a few minutes to prep, and as the avant garde say, to have your ‘mise en place’ all done first, before you heat the pan. (Chef Tood Mohr does a good point on this on YouTube.)

Since I was the child among grownups, guess who did all the dishes?? That’s right! There was no dishwasher, except me, back then. Nowadays, one plate, one cup, etc., but it still gets done.

[SgtHooper]

Thanks! Ah yes, no luxury dishwasher. And working in the fiefdom of the kitchen. One learns much when entering that realm. Us boys hated working in the fields/animals and the sisters wanted to work outside. Not such a glorious setting for Mom, and hard work for her, too. But learning to work through the mundane stuff day after day provided a good grounding (I call it a “basis of appreciation”) that motivated us all to get where we are today.