Hello

This website was a gift from my son. It was in response to a gift I gave him. Let me explain.

My husband had just retired after almost 30 years in the army. Our final 3 1/2 years were spent at West Point, New York. Due to some cosmic collision, we were assigned to West Point at the same time that both of my sons were cadets. This was such a gift for us. Especially for my husband. He said that he couldn’t pass up the chance to have both of his adult sons required by law to obey his orders. We knew that this would also be the last time we, as a family, would all be in the same place at the same time. Military life is like this. Nothing is permanent and everyone has to adapt to living in limbo.

As all college kids do, they came home for dinner (and to do laundry) whenever they could. And like all college kids, they brought friends home. Unlike most college kids, they were attending a military academy and were subject to rules and regulations that most young adults can’t conceive of. My husband and I decided that our home would be just that–a home. A safe place that these young men and women could “let their hair down” and feel safe and relaxed. It worked. Soon, they felt relaxed enough to come without our sons. Momma’s house was home. And Momma cooked.

I love to cook and having anywhere from 5 to 20+ “guests” every weekend was fun. Many of these cadets had never cooked before. (Some had never sat down to a family meal in their lives.) They were curious about the process and wanted to learn how to do it themselves. I taught as much as I could, but schedules rarely meshed and, all too soon, it was time for us to leave, although they had a year left until graduation and commissioning.

I wanted to give a special gift to “our” cadets at graduation. A gift that would keep on giving. I decided to write down the recipes and “teach” them how to recreate them. I tried to write as if I were standing next to each of them and guiding them through the process. I wanted them to “hear my voice” just as they had while standing in my kitchen dicing that first onion. This wasn’t a website. It was a printed book I handed to each of them after they were commissioned into the army as second lieutenants. My son and his fiance thought that more people needed to have my recipes or just hear what I have to say. So they designed this website to share their “gift” (although they refer to it as sharing “my gift”) with as many people as they could.

This is a work-in-progress.  And it can’t be mentioned enough-I have no clue how to write and manipulate a website. This is a learning process for me. Mistakes will be made…).

I have included the letter I wrote to “my kids” to give you an idea of what they received from me.

My Dearest Cadets (ahem, Lieutenants), 21 May 2013
This is a very personal project for some truly special people in my life. It is an evolving project and if you are interested in continuing it with me, there will be many more entries to come.

Writing these recipes has been difficult for me for several reasons. After 46 years of cooking, I simply don’t use recipes. I have developed the ability to just “know” what a particular combination of food items will taste like when combined under certain conditions. Yes, I fail occasionally, and when I do, it is pretty spectacular. However, most meals are a “go”. And, sometimes, I succeed beyond measure. Those recipes become “keepers” and I write them down—sort of.

If you were to look at the stack of the more than 60 that I have written down for this “proto-cookbook”, you will see that they are written on any piece of paper that I had handy at the time. Often, they consist of nothing more than a list of the ingredients. The really hard part is when I write that list and forget to write what I made with said list. Then it becomes a guessing game. (Which is why there aren’t 60 recipes in this edition—yes, I can count)

Another problem is that 46 years of cooking thing. I don’t think about how to do something. I know how. I know why I do it this way. The steps involved in getting from conception to finish are just there. But, you don’t have that ability (yet) and I have had to go back to the beginning and unravel the threads of a completed recipe in order for you to see the progression. This is why there are so few recipes thus far. Many of my recipes depend on a series of steps that must happen before the main event.

So one of the thing things I’ve been working on is simplification. There are a few of my specialties that aren’t here yet, for example, the chili and the roasted leg of lamb. They will come, but it may take a little while. Not just to simplify, but to remember what the hell I actually did. So to write them, I have to make them and that hasn’t happened yet. My husband (the tester) thanks you in advance.

A third issue is that you don’t have my kitchen skills, you don’t have my kitchen equipment and, most importantly, you simply don’t have the time to dedicate that I have. You all will be very busy for quite a few years to come. So, I am culling through my recipes and trying to give you only those that don’t take forever and a day to make. (Although, I did include a couple just for the fun and challenge) Remember, I told you all that “Simple isn’t always easy, and easy isn’t always simple.”

Over the last five years many of you have become an important part of our lives. You may have originally come for the free food and a place to crash that wasn’t the barracks. But, many of you came back because you liked us for ourselves. And we liked you. Not to get too sloppy about it, I love you buggers. And I hope that our friendship continues through the years (or at least until this book is finished) And when you make these recipes, that they bring back some most excellent memories of an important time in your lives (and mine).

I need you to beta test these recipes. Give me feedback. I will send you more (If you want) and will continue to fill the pages until you all have the meals that you want most. The meals that kept you coming back for more.

Love to you all,

Momma Haskins