My grandmother was from latvia, she came to this country just befor the turn of the century and met her husband from lithuainia at the chicago worlds fair. Then they came to NYC. she didnt talk much, she was a very quiet and patient woman. She loved to cook and bake and was very well known for what a good cook she was. My mother would leave me ther at times and i would sit by my grandmother's side and watch her bake. She made dough for cookies and she let me cut them out withthe edge of a shot glass, she made honey cake, she made crepes for the most delicious blintzes i have ever eaten...and flipping the pan was nothing to her,,,she make beef flanken, and flank steak, she made a vegetarian pea soup with barley and carrots . and celery , she made a chicken soup, and chopped liver. She needed no recipe having memorized it for years and done it by rote for so long nor could she tell anyone who wanted to write it down how she did it. i suppose i got closest to knowing what a pinch of salt was. She used only the purest ingredients and shopped at several different markets to f ind what she wanted and all the managers and owners knew her. She had six chilren , 3 girls and 3 boys all married and most all successful. At least once a month we all got together at her place and she had everthing i mentioned above ready for us. I didnt appreciate it as a young child...you know their taste sensations are different than adults...but now as i look back and remember....i always try to emulate her soups and certainly her quest for impecable ingredients. It was a very simple diligent life she led yet for years and years her cooking those meals held a very divergent group of people together...when she died it was the end of chicken soup as we knew it and the end of our family gatherings....