I am a graduate of Cornell University. I taught preschoolers for almost 10 years, and I also taught at the college level. When I was a high school student, I was a future teacher of America, so I taught other girls Geometry and Algebra. I got them to learn even if they were initially really bad at it. I love math.

My father actually taught me fractions through cooking, by
teaching me how to divide up a cup. I said to him, “Mommy doesn’t use that cup. She uses this cup which has measurements on it.” So he said, “You can use any cup,” and he showed me how to break it up into thirds and so on. After that, I never had trouble with fractions again.

My mom used to make oatmeal raisin cookies. I remember when she would mix up the ingredients with the beater, it would kind of grind against the ceramic bowl, which made such a loud sound. I used to get such a kick out of it. I thought we’d ever get glass chips in the cookie dough but we never did, because she knew what she was doing.

They were the most delicious cookies, and the house used to smell so good whenever she made them. There’s no other description for it.

In the mornings of my childhood, my mom would always make breakfast for me and my siblings. Things like cereal, hot oatmeal, a banana, and some bacon or an egg, but whenever she made the cookies, we would plead until she would give us an Oatmeal cookie or two with a piece of bacon wrapped around it for breakfast. We would say, “That’s good, ma. That’s healthy.” And it probably wasn’t, but she always gave in anyway.

She’s been gone for years now, but this is a very happy memory of her.