Maggie's Farm

"The Gold Cook Book" by "Master Chef Louis P. DeGouy" was the most important volume in my late mother's library. She became a syndicated food writer beginning in in her forties after doing all sorts of other things. She taught me to make the dish that brought Mr. W, a confirmed and notorious bachelor warrior, to one knee with a proposal of marriage after three bites of "the recipe." The dish involved beef, natch, and took two freaking days, a horrific number of ingredients and one and a half bottles of wine to make. Oh, back to the point, the mater did occasional classes at Le Cordon Bleu but always maintained that if one can read and has any sort of imagination one can cook well. Not everything she made was elegant or showy, just pretty damned fine.