Cooking The way to learn how to cook is by cooking. Don't be discouraged if you create some disaster dishes at first. As you become more sure of how different foods and spices taste, your success rate will improve, especially if you cook from instinct. Get comfortable with staples. Spice lightly. (Celery leaves are a good substitute for salt. Dill, thyme and rosemary are good as a light sweet combo.) If you cook meat, give thanks to the animal for its sacrifice. Don't prepare meat on a wood surface. A cast iron skillet with a cover is a good stove-top standard, because cast iron "remembers" the taste of your cooking. (Never, never wash anything of cast iron with soap.)

P H O T O    E S S A Y BEING FREE Table of Contents Readers Comments Download Lilac's Book Return to mighty

Lilac's Book. A book for my daughter.    By Bill Orton. Lilac's Book has been on     continuously since January 3, 1997. Anyone may have a FREE copy of the entire text of Lilac's Book by going to the Download page. Back in 1994, I wrote this book, largely in random order, as a gift for my infant daughter.   When I finished the first version of the book, I made photocopies and handed them out to anyone who was interested.   In 1996, I converted the text of the book into web format and thanks to the gracious and steadfast support from this mighty site, the book has been on Hippyland continuously since January 3, 1997.   As far as I can tell from webstats over the past few years, about 3000 people a year are visiting the page to download the full text of the book.   If just a portion of these visitors are downloading the text, then this free book is now in the hands of thousands of people.   This makes me feel that the gift is not just for Lilac, but for thousands of others, most especially for the teenagers and young adults who so often write to me trying to figure out their place in our world. BEING FREE  |  Table of Contents  |  Readers Comments  |  Download Lilac's Book  |  Return to HIPPYLAND  |  Photo Album Who IS a Hippy  |  The Price of Freedom  |  Following Your Own Heart  |  It Wasn't All Beauty & Lightness  |  Contact Me The original print edition of Lilac's Book © 1994; web editions © 1997, 1998, 1999, 2000, 2001.