I love my aunts. They kept the Oxford English Dictionary above the loo in the powder room. I was expected to open to any page and find a word I didn’t know. Then after I left the loo I had to pronounce the word, spell it, define it and use it in a sentence.
The other set of Aunt rules (I had many more at home with my parents dealing with chores) was to taste before asking what was in a recipe.
Taste things. I think I stop at crickets and monkey brains, not that they did any of that. They just wanted us to expand our palates and did so. Aunts L and J helped me to learn to love Roquefort cheese and many other things.
They helped me learn and made me smart literally, culturally and with food. Thank you so much. One Aunt recently sent me a crayon drawing from age five that I sent her, of the Tin Man, Cowardly Lion, and Scarecrow from The Wizard of Oz, with tiny me (Dorothy) on the back of the lion.
She told me it needed to be framed. I did so and it is my husband’s favorite work of “art.” Knowledge is why we help family members go to private schools. Hearing the brain “click” when we get something or figure out who we (not what we) will be in life took me a long time to figure out.
If my Aunts were not here for me I would not be the me that I am as I am always seeing if they would approve this missive. Much of the time they will not as I am usually profligate with parentheses and commas. I probably would have failed that course but done OK with Romeo and Juliet.
For nine years I’ve had a blog. I wouldn’t have had the courage to write without my Aunts. Thank you. With love from Dee
Cooking with Dee 