Passing down traditions - making and baking

I am supposed to be working on one of my class lessons for PSE, but am having trouble focusing. So I will write instead *wink*

12/2's HIH prompt is:
"Do you remember making any specific recipe with older family members? What was the experience like?"

My short answer: no, not really. Not until I was older, anyway, and then it was more of a "you are in charge of this" (making rolls for holiday meals) kind of thing than a "let's cook/bake together" situation. I could be forgetting something, but really I did not participate much in cooking with older family members until much, much later. AS in Mom taught me a few tricks before I moved into an apartment my Junior year in college later. My grad school friends are who really taught me to cook and enjoy a greater variety of foods.

I do remember having a special bond with my Grandma V over the preparation of artichokes. I would help her snip off the sharp tips of the outer leaves, then she would boil it and later we'd set out the artichoke and butter dip on a plate to pick at on the bar. Artichokes were our "thing" and she even gave me my own artichoke plate when I was older.

While I was mostly kept out of the kitchen as a child, I did have older relatives teach me many things outside the kitchen. I especially enjoy visits with Aunt Charlie Belle, my Grandpa V's sister. Aunt Charlie Belle lived in Dallas and was very crafty. She also always smelled very nice (not craft-relevant, I know, but decades after her death I still think of her perfume when I think of her). Charlie Belle made felt ornaments that my parents still use on their tree today - they were the ornaments *we* were allowed to put on the tree even before we could handle the breakable stuff. One trip to Dallas, Cb taught me to crochet. I think I was about 7 or 8, and looking back I am very impressed that she took the time to teach me to work with yarn and hook. While I never learned to "properly" hold the yarn on my hands the way she instructed, I did get a basic knowledge of crochet down that serves me still today. I had to teach myself a couple of years ago how to read instructions, however, because Charlie Bell just had me do basic projects from verbal instructions that I may have jotted down or memorized on my own!

My Grandma D always had craft supplies and projects at her house as well, and we would work on that each time I'd go to visit her (sometimes for a week or two at a time). Grandpa D taught me about fishing (with Grandma, who actually took me out a lot and who taught me to crab). I wish Grandpa D had taught me to play harmonica before he died, but he didn't. Grandma V taught me to play rummy (cards) probably around age 8 and Grandpa V taught me to play checkers around 6 I think. Grandma V. took me to the SA Zoo and on the train there often enough that I associate that childhood activity with her. Mom taught me to love reading. Dad taught me to change tires on my car and to drive a stick shift (to the tune of "I took a tire off your car, now put it on before you can drive again" and "I dropped your new stick shift car at your college apartment and took your old, auto car home with me to sell - see you back in SA when you learn to drive it!"). I also credit Tina (my roommate) and Eric (my boyfriend) with teaching me to drive that standard car "for real."