I was born and raised in New Castle County, Delaware, the oldest of three children. I was intrigued by food from a young age - as early as I can remember, actually. My mother was a great cook when I was growing up, but she had her "go-to" dishes and a couple of very picky eaters so she didn't stray too far from her repertoire.
I thought it was so interesting to learn about what different families or cultures ate, and where their recipes came from. As early as 6 or 7, I was a crazy over a neighbor boy whose mother was a lovely "flower-child" from the 60's. With waist-long hair and long, flowing skirts, she taught me all about the nutritional benefits available in foods, how tasty carob is, what it meant to eat "natural" foods, what tofu was and introduced me to all sorts of strange veggies. I remember coming home and telling her that I ate "grass" that was growing in her windowsill. Mom ran right over there to investigate after that. I guess my mother wasn't a fan of bean sprouts.
An Indian neighbor just down the road from that taught me all about curries and ways to prepare chicken that would have never gone over well in my own home. I couldn't get enough of the strange looking food with the exotic aromas. Looking back, I think I befriended her son especially so that I could spend time with his mother. She was an amazing cook, and spent countless hours with me in her kitchen teaching me her family recipes. I couldn't have been more than 8 at the time, but I remember being endlessly fascinated.
My favorite memories were spending time at my grandmother's house. We would plan special things to cook before I got there. She had responsibilities in her kitchen from a very early age, and would get a good laugh when I shared with her that I wanted to learn how to make a cake from scratch or how I wasn't allowed to use a knife yet. She told me she was baking cakes by the time she was around five years old! She taught me some important techniques like how to layer flavors in unique ways. One of the most important things she taught me was to be experimental. She taught me it was OK to try a recipe out and have it fail. Laugh and learn from your "mistakes" - and learn what you could do to make it better next time. Her cookbooks were filled with hand-written tips in the margins describing how she changed this or omitted that to "improve" upon the written recipe.
After I grew up and moved out on my own, I embraced how easily I become bored by having the same dish over and over. I found myself thumbing through cookbooks of all sorts for the next dish that caught my eye. Thankfully, my incredible husband and children indulge me in my constant quest for the next great meal. With five kids, four of which are still at home, I have plenty of opportunities to try things out, too.
In my spare time - when I'm not at home being a wife, mother, grandmother, freelance writer, photographer, and/or an obsessive foodie, I have enjoyed a career in the science field for nearly 30 years.
Welcome to Elizabeth Obsesses and thank you for visiting! Please feel free to leave comments, or email me at: ElizabethObsesses@gmail.com