Red Beans and Advice for Monday, Oct. 17

My mother’s cooking rules

Happy Bonny Day. This is the seventh anniversary of the death of my mother, Bonny Maynard. Rather than be sad, however, we try to celebrate her in some way.

This year, Bonny Day is happening at the High Hat Cafe in New Orleans. If you come to lunch and order pie, your dessert will be on me. Pie was her favorite dessert, lemon meringue in particular.

My book Satisfaction Guaranteed is dedicated to everyone who taught me to cook. My mother was my first cooking teacher. I did not have the benefit of grandmothers’ wisdom; one died when I was a baby and the other lived too far away to be an influence in my cooking life.

But my mother taught me a lot. My parents socialized primarily with four couples who took turns hosting each other (one couple had a completely modern kitchen with a microwave, which fascinated me and my brother).