1 . My mother used to say that when your mother was really good at something, you didn’t learn to do it. What she said was ________. My grandmother was skilled in baking and cooking, but my mother was a barely ________ cook for our family of seven. We didn’t ________; we had meat, potatoes and another vegetable at every meal out of a can.

Baking was not Mom’s ________, so on Saturday mornings, she would ________ us to the bakery for fresh cake. Mom did learn to make the ________ Dad loved — bacon and eggs, spare ribs (排骨) and, ________, potato salad. Potato salad was my mom’s major ________ to every summer, ________ eating such a dish on a hot July day wasn’t a good idea. Mayonnaise (蛋黄酱) in it could be difficult to ________ and you might have to go to the bathroom frequently.

Case in point: the time my uncle and aunt and their six kids ________ at the lake with us. The ________ included burgers, burnt or slightly raw, lots of pop, and Mom’s potato salad. We spent hours at the lake. Unfortunately, so did the salad.

________, I realize that polishing off Mom’s potato salad may have been the reason that Dad finally built us a second bathroom, which ________ that everything can have a bright side. My mother didn’t ________ in the kitchen, but I miss her cooking so much.