Before the Internet, or at least the Internet as we know it, I used to call my mom to ask her questions as I started to learn to cook. To prepare meals on my own, as a newly married woman, as someone exploring the kitchen, deeper into it than boiling water and making pasta. I needed to know what cut of meat to buy to make a respectable roast beef. Or, how long to cook it. Do I season or brown it before roasting? Recipes were not at the ready. They were not a click away. But my mother was a phone call away. And always happy to hear from one of her young adult daughters, who lived on her own. She always had the answer. For how long should I parboil the potatoes? “Stick a fork in them and see how soft they are. Can you mash them?” Most of her suggestions or advice were obvious. Then I began to wonder if I needed her guidance, or perhaps I just wanted to know that I still needed her, and that she would always be there with the answer. So now I have two of my own “young adults” in college. ...