Family Cooking

My family is a non-traditional family in that no one really cooks. My parents and my aunt are too busy with their businesses to be home enough to cook. My aunt used to cook quick and easy stuff while her son lived at home. Now that her son moved out she sees no need to cook for just herself. Most of the time when I go over there I walk into the smell of popcorn, now every time I smell popcorn I think of my aunt. I have family in Montana that live on a farm so I am almost positive they cook but I have only met them once so I cannot say for sure what their cooking habits are. Last but not least, the baby of the family, my uncle Roger. He has always been the one that loves cooking. Every thanksgiving when our small family gets together my uncle deep fry’s a turkey for the meal. I will probably never have the same love for regular baked turkey after having tried his Cajun deep fried turkey. I love when he does this because the smell in the garage from the deep fryer lingers for several days. My uncle also loves to cook seafood. I am not a seafood eater so I do not look forward to his cooking of seafood when I am around. The smell of seafood makes my stomach turn and I lose my appetite. He loves to bake crab legs in our oven on holidays. When he does this I do not go in the kitchen for at least a day. There are times I can stand to be around the cooking of seafood, like when it is not in an enclosed space. When the family gets together at our lake house in Kentucky, they do a big shrimp boil. This smell does not bother me because it is done outside where the smell will not linger around for hours. I usually cook myself a steak or hamburger when these shrimp boils take place. I really do wish that I liked seafood because my family loves it and it is a special treat when it is served since it is not served that often. Every Christmas morning when my family comes over we have breakfast casserole. Everyone in my family loves this meal and looks forward to coming over on Christmas just to eat (We do not do gifts on Christmas). Since I have gotten older I have taken over the responsibility of preparing this casserole the night before and baking it in the morning for everyone. I take great pride in preparing a special occasion meal for my family that has been around for longer than I have.