Charles Lytton's first understanding and appreciation of cooking food came from his grandmother. Her house was cold and drafty in the winter. As he puts it, "You could throw a cat through the cracks around the closed windows." With characteristic language that is at once simple and colorful he creates a scene that retells the true Appalachian way of life: "In the morning, the water dipper was often frozen in the drinking water bucket. Once she started the fire in the cook stove, she put the water bucket to melt the ice and make coffee. The remainder of the hot water got a chip or two of lye...