Any factor that may influence an observation is known as a ….

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Any fаctоr thаt mаy influence an оbservatiоn is known as a ...

     My grаndmоther cаme tо this cоuntry with little or no English but with а head full of intricate recipes from her Mediterranean world. When passing on the secrets of these delicacies to her six daughters, she never stopped to write the exact ingredients for koulouria, baklava, or pastichio, but instead, she showed our mothers what good cooking truly means.        When her children peered into the old wooden mixing bowl and asked: “How much, Mama?” she replied, “oh, an ample sufficiency.” The almost contradictory nature of this culinary response was lost on her audience. but each daughter did learn to “measure” by taste, not words, Under their mother’s tutelage the most complex of recipes – a dish made of parchment-like filo that ripped and twisted in an amateur’s hands – grew simple, manageable. A few swipes of the buttered brush, a dab of a spinach-feta mixture, and spanikopita was born. The most pedestrian of stews made with her hand-tended garden vegetables and a hen from the barnyard was savored as we wiped up every drop with fluffs of fresh bread.      My grandmother created that bread. Simple flour seemed to inhale and exhale as her skilled hands massaged and patted it into loaves; each loaf virtually huffed and puffed as we grandchildren waited for the first batch of our daily bread to go directly from her oven to our mouths. That bread with freshly churned butter and delicate Bibb lettuce alone made life worth living.      Later, when it came time to learn at our own mothers’ elbows, we wondered how to make the foods and baked goods that emerged so effortlessly from our grandmother’s worn fingers. We were told to keep watching. Eventually, we understood that good cooking cannot be defined according to a list of ingredients. Rather, it is inspired by the creativity that arises from an act of love.