Put another log on the fire--Megan’s cookin’

I love a challenge just as much as the next person. I guess that competitiveness comes from my mother, Sheila (you don’t want to play Scrabble with her).

After the electric went out on Tuesday night, due to the three inches of ice that pelted Clark County, my father-in-law came over the next morning to see how we were doing without electricity. Seeming as we heat with wood, we were doing just fine.

As Tim, the father-in-law, stood by the stove he said, “Well that thing couldn’t get hot enough to boil water.”

A challenge. Was he really going to challenge me to prove something? Boy was he in for a big surprise.

I told him that I could cook anything that I wanted to on that stove. It might take three times longer and whole lot more wood, but I could fix anything he named off. He just laughed.

So, while Timmy and his dad went out for a few hours, to check on the damage from the ice, I had the house all to myself. I went into the kitchen and found the biggest cooking pot I had and put soup beans on the wood stove.

I peeled potatoes and mixed up a batter of cornbread. I dug out the cast iron skillet and borrowed a large one from Trudy, my mother-in-law. I oiled them really well.

I hate it when they (cast iron skillets) aren’t seasoned good. No matter what you cook, food sticks in them.

Later that evening when the whole Parker family was sitting down to a meal of soup beans, corn bread, fried potatoes, and brownies for dessert, I looked over at Tim and said, “Now what was it you said about that stove not being able to boil water?”

He just laughed and put on like he was joking! He was probably just saying all of those things because he knows how I am. If a challenge arises, electric or none, I’m up for it! Plus, he probably just wanted something besides lunch meat for supper!

So, for the next few days, as everyone stayed with us because of the power outage, I got really good at cooking different things on that wood stove. Chili, vegetable soup, stir fry, I even made breakfast on it Saturday morning.

Tim has a new nickname for me. I’m not sure I measure up to the name. “Rebecca Boone”. Well, the way I feel, Rebecca Boone can keep her name. I like mine just fine, and my wood stove too!

Column was published February 5, 2009