Please note: This is a companion version & not the original book. Sample Book Insights: #1 My mother, Nellie, was a great cook who never relied on recipes or precise measurements when she cooked. She just did it, and she did it well. Her ability to figure things out and cope with the challenges was the greatest gift she passed on to me. #2 My family was large, with six children. We rarely ate out because we didn't have the money, and the restaurants couldn't compete with what we had at home. My father was a supervisor of shipbuilding at Johnson Iron Works, and my mother was a housewife. #3 My mother and father parceled out their love and attention to all of us in equal measure so that we never felt neglected or favored over one another. Their meals were exciting, rich, and varied even though they were poor. #4 My mother, Nellie, would cook delicious meals for us every day. She would always talk about how important it was to eat your vegetables, and she would always have soups in the wintertime made with what she called the soup meat—whatever was left over.