Now retired and with her children grown, Sandra Hogge says her cooking does not take quite as much of her time as it once did, “except at Thanksgiving, Christmas and those special times when they all come home (she has a son, a daughter and seven grandchildren). But I love to cook.”

When her husband Elliott Hogge, the Grand Marshal of the recent Guinea Jubilee and president of Ruritan National, Inc., was asked his favorites of the dishes his wife cooks, he said, “I can’t pick a favorite. They’re all so good.”

Sandra describes herself as one who learned “by trial and error.” She had never paid much attention to how her mother handled her kitchen but things changed when she was around 15 years old. “My mother had a massive heart attack and was bedridden for many months. My older sister, Sylvia, was married and had a family of her own, but lived nearby. She and Mother’s “Better Homes and Gardens Cookbook” became my ...