Lilly and Audrey are younger than most cookbook authors. But they have been developing their kitchen skills for more than half their lives. When they had just learned to walk, they loved to hang out in the kitchen while their parents cooked dinner. At age 5, they made their first dish without help: pumpkin muffins.

Audrey can still remember the way the muffins rose in the oven (烤箱), the painful wait for them to cool and the sweetness of the fresh-made treats. “It was super exciting to make something so delicious almost all on our own,” she says.

Their parents are not very skilled at cooking, so Lilly and Audrey turned to other people for cooking advice. Auspiciously, they live in Sonoma, California, an area that is known for its farms and restaurants. One local cook gave the twins (双胞胎) lessons on cooking techniques, such as how to use knives; those classes taught Lilly and Audrey how to use kitchen tools safely.

In 2009, they started a blog (博客), on which they share photos and recipes (菜谱) they have created. Though the twins love creating sweet foods such as muffins, they also think about healthy food. They hope their cookbook will encourage kids to make better food choices by making them more knowledgeable.

“Knowing more about your food and where it comes from certainly causes you to know more about what you eat and to put the best food in your body,” Lilly says. That has been true for her. Lilly used to avoid eggplant at all costs, until one day she tried cooking it for herself. Now it’s one of her favorite vegetables. “If you make something yourself and give it a try, you’ll probably like it,” she says.

Mom was a teacher most of her life. When she wasn’t in the classroom, she was educating her children or grandchildren; correcting our grammar; starting us on collections of butterflies, flowers or rocks; or inspiring a discussion on her most recent “Book of the Month Club” topic. Mom made learning fun.

It was sad for my three brothers and me to see her suffering in her later years. At eighty- five, she suffered a stroke and she went steadily downhill after that.

Two days before she died, my brothers and I met at her nursing home and took her for a short ride in a wheelchair. While we waited for the staff to lift her limp body back into bed, Mom fell asleep. Not wanting to wake her, we moved to the far end of the room and spoke softly.

After several minutes our conversation was interrupted by a muffled sound coming from across the room. We stopped talking and looked at Mom. Her eyes were closed, but she was clearly trying to communicate with us. We went to her side.

“Whrr,” she said weakly. “Where?” I asked. “Mom, is there something you want?” “Whrr,” she repeated a bit stronger. My brothers and I looked at each other and shook our heads sadly. Mom opened her eyes, sighed, and with all the energy she could gather said, “ Not ...was. Say were!” We suddenly realized that Mom was correcting Brother Jim’s last sentence. “If it was up to me…”

Jim leaned down and kissed her cheek. “Thanks, Mom,” he whispered. We smiled at each other and once again shook our heads.

The powwow was just fantastic! I could never have imagined how colorful and impressive this morning would be. The dances find the clothes, which were decorated with eagle feathers, attracted me.

I had heard about the powwow dancing in our culture class at Rice University, so I wanted very much to see what the Native Americans would look like in their traditional clothes.

The opening dance was scheduled to start at 7：30 a. m. Since I didn't want to miss any dances, I arrived there on time；however, the dancing began an hour late. How could I have forgotten that Native Americans have a different feeling for time, which I had learned in our class? I had intended to go back for my term survey paper as soon as the great one-and-a-half hour event was over!

First, they started to play music with their drums； it was accompanied by their low voices. “Hamma hamma…”. The music was exactly the same as I had heard in the movies.

Then, the Native Americans gradually changed their clothes； they wore their own extremely amazing clothes for the dances, with their hairstyles special and faces multicolored(多颜色的).

Finally, the competitions were started； the participants danced in different groups. They swung their arms and moved their feet in special steps, always to the beat of the music.

After one hour and a half of enthusiastically enjoying them, I took a walk along the food stands to eat some special Native American fried bread and other snacks. And I left that wonderful place for my hotel, having stayed two hours longer than I had first planned to stay.

I will never forget this wonderful morning that gave me a little view into the culture of Native Americans.