I'm Diane-- one of the old timers-- started out on the garden side in 1998 or so , moved here around 2001
, I think.

I'm married to Doc-- we have 2 daughters,6 sons, 17 grandkids & 4 great grandkids. Hubby & I are both retired (sort of ) and live on 5 acres in the beautiful Fingerlakes region of NYS. We also have a Camp on 40 + acres in Allegany Co (NYS) with a rustic cabin--no running water or electric there.

I love to cook & bake, style is probably what's called down home country-I use very little salt in my cooking & few "prepared" foods & spend way to much on food , probably-- but after so many years of working, feeding kids & budgeting if we want something special in the way of groceries I now days just buy it. If we're "eating out" it's usually breakfast-- holidays are big, noisy family affairs with everybody contributing food & drink --
I do some gardening & canning but not as much as I once did.

What a great idea!

I'm Ali, married to Dan. We live in mid-coast Maine in one of the most lovely places in the state, near a large estuary. My user name comes from my college job at the Mabel Dingeldine Music Center. All these years later I still answer to Mabel!

We are avid DIYers and almost always have a house or garden project going. We have a large vegetable garden and I can quite a bit, and cook a lot mostly from scratch. We also have a small flock of laying hens which have forever ruined me to supermarket eggs.

In addition to our garden we have a farm share at a diversified farm and am able to purchase cornmeal, wheat flour, and oats in addition to veggies. I make it a point to buy as much as I can afford to from local producers to keep the local economy healthy, and it gives me great pleasure to cook with this bounty.

When I'm not in the kitchen or working on my old house, I am slaving over a hot desk at a nearby college.

My name is Lars, and I've been posting here since around July 2002, and so I'm very familiar with Sharon and got to meet her and her husband when they were in Los Angeles, passing through.

I currently live in the southern part of western Los Angeles in a neighborhood called Westchester, and I am about two and half miles from the beach, making my climate very mild with no extremes in summer or winter. I have a large collection of South African succulents and a lot of bromeliads and orchid cactus plants, as they love this climate. I also grow quite a few orchids outdoors and built shelters for them so that they do not get too much sun. I also have to protect many of the bromeliads from the sun, and so I quickly run out of shady spots.

Fruit trees/plants that I have now include Meyer lemon, Bearss lime, Blood orange, Eureka lemon, Yuzu (Japanese lemon), Kaffir lime, Cherimoya (has not yet fruited), white Sapote, Pitaya (Dragronfruit), Ice Cream Banana, and a Fuji apple tree. I have the wrong soil for avocado and papaya, although I grew that when I lived in Venice, along with a mango tree. Right now I also have a bunch of tomato vines, some of which are just now producing tomatoes. I tend to get more tomatoes in the winter than in the summer for some reason, and I never have to worry about frost. I grow a lot of herbs as well, but they come and go. Right now I have a lot of basil and cilantro, which I use a lot.

I recently bought a large upright freezer so that I can store frozen vegetables and fruits so that I can start a new diet based on those instead and decrease the amount of starch that I eat. I love rice and pasta, but my doctor told me to eat less of that.

I live with my brother, who moved in with me in Venice shortly after his divorce, and then we bought a house together. Neither of use could have afforded to do that on our own at that time. We cook a lot outdoors because of the mild weather, and we have a huge Big Green Egg, a large Weber, a small Weber, a propane grill (for emergencies only), and an electric smoker.

I lived in San Francisco when I was in my 20s and early 30s and supported myself by designing and making clothes, although I took on other sewing jobs that included upholstery, and I worked for a while at Island Restaurant baking pastries and coffee cakes. Then I decided to go back to school and get another degree - this time in design - and after finishing my second four years at university, I moved to Los Angeles and got work designing furniture.

This post was edited by publickman on Tue, Nov 26, 13 at 3:58

I'm Debra (sure that was a surprise!) and am married to Lee. We have to two children, 17 and 20 years old. They are enjoying my new found passion for cooking. We live in a suburb outside of Buffalo, NY. Buffalo is never as cold, and we don't get as much snow, as everyone thinks. The city and surrounding areas have many attributes so I encourage everyone to visit.

I started out at GW on the kitchen forum. I drifted over here as the kitchen is done. I was just an ordinary cook before. I can't tell you how much I have learned on this forum. Now I am making things from scratch and cooking whole chickens, LOL. We got a wood pellet grill this year which has been a fantastic investment. The hamburgers are the best I have ever eaten. Sometimes the freezer is filled with venison but sadly not this year.

We only grow tomatoes plants as the abundance of deer destroy any gardens here, even with high fences.

Diane (craftyrn) my FIL has a cabin in alleghany county that we enjoy visiting. Thankfully it does have running water and electric. : )

Edited to add the part of the kids.

This post was edited by debrak2008 on Tue, Nov 26, 13 at 10:08

Hi, I'm Annie, no surprise there. Well, actually I'm an Angela, but no one calls me that.

I've been posting here for at least 10 years, as I'm 58 now and I had a 50th birthday party with the people here. That was back when Spike ran the place, it cost $10 to join and if you ticked him off he'd ban you from the site and send you to Disney when you tried to log on, LOL.

I live in Northern/Western Michigan, about 40 miles inland from The Lake in a very small rural/agricultural community. I love it but the closest Trader Joe's is a four hour drive, right next to the closest Whole Foods. I have one small independent grocer in town, even the nearest WalMart is nearly 20 miles away.

I'm married to Elery, we've been married 5 years now. My friends here went through my divorce after 30 years of marriage, the birth of my grandchildren, my meeting Elery, our proposal and our wedding. Some of the members attended the weddings of my daughters and Evil Jessica (who I miss here) came and stayed with me with her kids for several days from California. I've been at several of the "get togethers", hosted a couple, at last count I met 28 friends from here, including Sharon and Lars.

I have two daughters, Amanda and Ashley. Amanda is married to Dave and is the mother of The Monkey Princess and Bruvver. Ashley is married to Kevin and is the mother to The Smallest Princess and Baby Sister. I also have 4 stepchildren and 6 stepgrandchildren, so our family is getting bigger all the time.

I ran the Prosecutor's Office here for 35 years and have a degree in criminal justice, but in a perfect world I could make a living farming. I helped my disabled father run the farm and when he died, two months after I married Elery, we bought the place to keep the bank from taking it. It has caused a lot of family contention and division. I'm also conservator for my stepmother, who has been diagnosed as having dementia and being bi-polar.

I raise grass fed beef and have a big organic garden, can everything I possibly can and freeze the rest and spend as much time on horseback as possible but not as much as I'd like.

Elery and I both like to cook and I bake all our bread and have been playing with cake decorating. I've made several wedding cakes, including those for both of my daughters and for my stepdaughter.

Elery and I are both retired and I thought it would be more relaxing than this! (grin)

Annie

Hi! I am Westelle. I can't tell you when I first started coming here, but Spike still ran the show. I haven't commented too much lately since I'm kept pretty busy caring for my severely disabled husband, but I do lurk and copy down the occasional recipe.

We moved from our country home to a city home about 2 years ago when the need for a single-story house became necessary. We live in the Central Valley of California; have 3 children and 6 grandchildren. I love gardening and now grow fresh vegetables and herbs in large pots crowding the side yard.

I recently have been learning to cook for one.... a totally new concept for me. The whole family will be here for the holidays so all the recipes will come out, as well as all the big pots and pans. It will be fun to really make some meals again.

Crikey - I had to go and look at my profile to see when I joined - 2001!
My name's Islay and I come originally from just outside Oxford in England. I came to France in 1990 and met and married my wonderful husband, Yann. I have 2 children from a previous marriage - my daughter lives in Cornwall in England and has 2 little boys and my son lives in Rennes near me and got married to a gorgeous girl last July so we feel very lucky.
I've always loved cooking which is perhaps one of the reasons I wanted to come and live here. I live by the sea which I always dreamt of and It's marvellous as it's different every day.
We love camping holidays and road trips.
This forum is quite unique - I've never seen another where so many people have been around for such a long time and for the most part, we're really nice :)
I still miss LindaC!!!

Hi - My name is Amanda.

I grew up in central Maine in a community of back to the landers. Both of my parents were also artists. As were my grandparents and uncles and aunts. We always had a garden and some kind of livestock - cows, pigs.....

As a child I helped in the vegetable garden only under duress. But somehow in my late teens I got obsessed with gardens of the flowery kind. I lived in NJ/PA for many years but missed Maine. I built a small cabin in Maine and visited a couple times a year. I moved back a couple of years ago. Unfortunately my dad died soon after and left my sister and myself with the stewardship of his land along with an angry irrational widow. That has been financially and emotionally difficult. But we have bought his tools and lumber and have been making a variety of small projects. We have greatly enjoyed working in the studio space that my parents shared when we were young.

I also enjoy baking and cooking greatly and have learned a lot here. I have a vegetable garden. Right now it only contains leeks, kale and brussel sprouts. I also bought a freezer this year. I froze a fair amount of veggies as well as condiments. I also canned some hot pepper jelly and tomato chutney. I built a woodfired bread oven with help last year. I have mostly made pizza and pitas. I hope to work on using the oven more this winter.

I live by myself with JoeBear the dog and Pulgita the destructive kitten.

A side note for those of you in chillier climates. The farm I grew up on had been in one family since just after the revolutionary war. It had an ancient orchard with at that time three big hollowed trees of a variety called Canadian Strawberries. Old timers used to come pick bagfuls. A really really good flavored apple. My dad and I were at the commonground fair once where John Bunker had a display of heirloom apples. My dad eventually persuaded John to come check them out. So now you can buy canadian strawberry apples from Fedco Trees...

I don't know where to start but I can say Chase is always a very welcoming person ! She took pictures of my old house in her city, after I mentioned I had lived there for a few years.

I am also of the time of Spike, and although I am not a great cook, I get much inspiration here: I stopped baking years ago because of my sugar addiction but I salivate at the pictures and recipes.

I spend my time between Calgary, Montreal and Florida, so I'm never bored, I've been married almost 40 years and have 2 adult children and almost 3 grandchildren, the third is scheduled to be born January 2. DD got married this summer, DS will marry ( again) in 2015 to his ex-wife. A happy reconciliation.

I remember when posting pictures on this forum became quite the topic of discussion. I've received great support when my dog had problems, then passed. I will never forget that.

cheers everyone !

Hi my name is Suzanne and I started reading the posts 8 years ago. I love reading everyone's posts, but don't participate as often as I should! I live 90 miles east of Dallas on Lake Fork but work everyday at the Historic Hopkins County Courthouse in Sulphur Springs; I've been the county auditor for 30 years (an appointed not elected position)! I try to garden but poor soil and deer seem to get in the way. I love to cook especially new recipes and ethnic recipes. I've been married to Frank for 40 years and we have a dog named Huckleberry a rescued bloodhound.

I'm Malna (my childhood nickname - it's Hungarian for raspberry - I would eat every one I could reach on my grandmother's bushes). DH and I will shortly be celebrating our 25th anniversary of, um, living together. We never have gotten around to officially being married. Our 4 kids have fur - 2 cats (20 and 17) and 2 dogs (both rescues and both 3 years old). DH has two human kids from a previous marriage and 4 grandkids.

We live in northwest NJ. If you've ever seen the NJ cultural map, we are labeled as the "Vast Wilderness of Rednecks and Retired Hippies". Pretty close to the truth LOL. We have a large garden, hunt and fish, can a lot of food, and basically live pretty simply. No cars - we bicycle everywhere. No cable TV - we have one channel, namely Netflix DVD's. Don't own a cell phone or an iAnything.

Our neighbors acknowledge we're a bit eccentric (nicer term than "really weird"), but they know whose pantry to raid if they need a few fresh bay leaves, a spoonful of tamarind paste, or one cinnamon stick for a recipe.

I have a home-based business doing architectural and engineering drawings for science laboratories. How I ended up doing this, having a college degree in Food Science and then working 12 years in Retail Management in Manhattan, is a long, convoluted story. I've worked on projects for university research labs, hospitals, investigative forensic centers (I love watching CSI and NCIS), and a lab for NASA at the Kennedy Space Center. High tech during working hours and "no-tech" the rest of the time :-)

DH loves to cook and makes dinner every night. He occasionally does dishes, too. I'm very lucky. Love every kind of food (well, I still don't like liver, lentils, lima beans, or lamb even after the 7 year rule which I've done about 8 times now). We challenge each other to come up with food we can make instead of buying it. Like our own sausages and bratwurst, salsa (thanks, Annie!), homemade mustard, bacon, and corned venison. Experiments in process are curing ham, developing a recipe for barbecue sauce for canning, and puff pastry. Think I'll be working on the puff pastry for a while...pastry is not my forte.

I signed up on GW about 7 years ago mainly to access the Harvest Forum but lurk in other forums including this one. I don't post much here as I don't do a lot of swank food or photos, but I've noticed there is much more interest in things like cooking venison (our major protein source). I only post where I feel I can contribute something useful. At least I hope the info is useful :-)

Welcome all you "newbies" it is the new blood that keeps this place vibrant and interesting.

It is so nice to meet you.

Now maybe some more of the not so newbies could pipe up and say HI !!!

Thanks for doing this, Chase. Wow, I'd all but forgotten Spike! I've been here since 2001, starting over on the Kitchens forum when we moved into this house and remodeled the kitchen. My main contribution has been introducing everyone to the Tapmaster!

I'm Susan, and I live in Columbus, Ohio. I'm a lawyer, and I like it as much as I like cooking, which is a lot. I especially love to make soups and cook Asian and Jewish meals.

I've been married to Jack for 31 years. Our kidz were known for years on this forum as Thing One and Thing Two (and then Mrs. Thing One, too) are Ben and Addie. We have an antique doofus dog, Sam, and Fenway, VPC (Very Popular Cat).

The people on this forum were so wonderful when I was planning Ben's wedding 2 years ago. Now Addie is engaged, too, and will be married here in August. In between, everyone was just great when I was cooking soup every week for a friend who was undergoing an especially nasty type of chemotherapy.

I miss LindaC, too!

Hey y'all! It's Pat from NW Florida. Wish I knew how to change my username, because when I survived the divorce from hell back in 2007, I changed it back to my maiden name which starts with a B.

I've been here since the days of Roger and the Great Cornbread Incident. And I miss LindaC's posts tremendously.

I drop in and out sporadically - the people here who know me know that in the past 10 years, I survived a near-death experience, a horrific divorce, and still managed to graduate from culinary school at the ripe old age of 47 while all this was happening.

I'm 52 and have one daughter, Erin (she just turned 13!!! God help me!).

While I do have a culinary degree, I do not cook for a living. The ONE thing I learned in school is this: Cooking is hot, hard work for YOUNG people. It does NOT pay well and the hours are long. But, hey, I learned to make a mean rolled French omelet and some dandy cream puffs!

Hi! I'm Madonna and I live in South Central Indiana with my DH of nearly 40 years and our psycho German Shepherd, Sigfried. We have no children. I've been on Gardenweb since 2004 and think I started out on the Harvest Forum.

DH is a 100% disabled Army Vet and I'm just an old Air Force Vet. We have 21 beautiful, partially wooded acres with a house we actually built ourselves - no contractors, etc. I love to grow veggies which I can, dehydrate and freeze. Finally got a smoker two years ago, but due to DH's many health problems, I haven't had the time to use it, but hopefully this will be the year that I get to try out some of annie1992's suggestions.

Over a lot of my working years I've been a fabric shop owner, a seamstress, a sewing teacher, secretary, a real estate broker and a paralegal. I also owned a Native American shop with authentic items. Both DH and I are part Native American. I am an advanced Master Gardener and a Certified Food Preserver.

Our place will go on the market next spring and we hope to move to a warmer climate due to the DH's health problems. I am a 1 1/2 year breast cancer survivor and the medication they have me on creates an almost constant overheating so I'd rather stay in a cooler climate, but want DH to be more comfortable.

I'm still on the Harvest Forum, but I spend more time on the Cooking Forum. I love all the wonderful hints, recipes and people on here. If you ever have a question, all you have to do is ask and everyone is so ready to help. I do miss Lou and all of his recipes lot and hopefully someday the powers that be will release the ban on him. I miss Ken, too. Hope he's still lurking.

Yes, it's been a while since we had a "meet and greet", thanks, Sharon!

I am Linda, another "old-timer" here. I think I originally signed up about 1999, but had to re-join a couple of times during the Spike years due to having to come up with the funds during those lean years!

I live about 40 miles north of the Twin Cities-Minneapolis/St Paul, on 20 acres of woods and wetlands. My husband Tim and I built a log home here almost 12 years ago. We live here with our newst furbaby, a rescue German Shepherd that came with the name Bullet. Let's just say he has been a challenge.....

I have two kids from a previous marriage, a daughter (36) and a son (34), both kids are married and they have blessed me with two beautiful grand-daughters age 4 years and 1-1/2.

I am not a phenomenal cook, but because of the people on this forum I am at least a good cook! I have learned a lot from everyone here over the years. Heck, I just spatchcocked my Thanksgiving turkey! Would never have known what spatchcocking was had I not been a part of this group!

I have met only about a dozen people on the CF, some of them no longer post. But I do keep in touch on a regular basis with a few.

I try to garden, but it's tough to do in the woods where full-sun is limited.....but every summer I try another method. One of these days I'll find a way to have a bountiful harvest! Other hobbies include stained and fused glass and jewelry making.

Good to meet all the new people and happy to see some of the old-timers posting again! I don't post as often as I used to, but it was so much easier when I was my own boss working from home!

Linda

I'm Helene, married to Jim, and living in the boonies between Monterey and Salinas, California. I am originally from Memphis, but Jim's a native to these parts. I have been at the Gardenweb since about 2000, when we started planning our major kitchen+house remodel that we survived in 2002 and finished in 2003. I started here as Fairegold, but broke the rules once and since then I have been Sushipup.

Jim was the oenophile before I met him, and some in his family are in the business. He does the meats in our cooking, but probably wouldn't eat anything green if not for me. It's a battle some days, but I am thankful that he can stuff a chicken under the skin and make wonderful BBQ ribs, and prime rib and stuffed pork chops. He can thank me for all the rest plus the entertaining and whatever else he never thinks of. I can still fry chicken better than him, tho.

Our son lives in the Philadelphia suburbs, is married with an almost-10 year old son, who was "Swimmer of the Week" for outstanding performance in last week's meets. Yeah, Dane!

We have long shown and trained and bred Golden Retrievers, but even that is winding down somewhat as we have have grown older. Only two dogs now, one of whom is Sushi. One of these days we threaten to move into town and a smaller house with less land, but no time soon. I am happy to say that I've meet a number of these great Cooking Forum folks and I've been overwhelmed by the love.

I'm Ann and I've been around here since 2001. I've been with my husband Moe for 40 years, married 34. Originally from Ontario we have lived in a number of places including twice in the US. - Grand Rapids, Michigan and Dunkirk, NY. We moved to the west coast of Canada back in 2001 and we now live in the beautiful Cowichan Valley on Vancouver Island. Our son Matt lives in Victoria, just an hour south of us. So we get to see him often.

I started a cooking/recipe blog "Thibeault's Table" back in 2009 and have had over 2 million visitors to date.

I've also been lucky enough to have met a few members.

~Ann

I'm Bradley and I've been on the Cooking forum here for a couple years now. I joined GardenWeb in 2009. I live in South Central PA and have so for all of my life with my mom and dad. I'm 23, unemployed, and still living at home, but, as most of you know, I am active with my community theatre. This has been my second season with them and I love every minute of it! :-). I don't think of myself as the next Bobby Flay or anything, but I am happy to hear such positive feedback of the food I make :-).

My other hobbies include gardening, both house plants and outdoor flower beds and some veggies. I like to read (especially Stephen King). I love listening to records (Dottie West has been an idol of mine for some years now) and the older artists (too many good ones to mention). I also crochet and do other needlecrafts, but crocheting is what I started out with (self-taught; I picked up a book when I was in 9th grade and haven't put down a hook and yarn since LOL). I like to write, too. Poems and stories of all kinds.

I am single, and not really looking (it's a long story). I've never learned how to drive, but I can work hard and I dream of owning my own flower nursery (one of those great big old fashioned type glass greenhouses) someday.

I don't have any pets, but mom keeps a 20 gallon freshwater fish tank full of tropical fish out in the living room. I do adore dogs and cats, but my heart leans towards dogs more, as wolves are one of my favorite animals and Huskies and Malamutes being my two favorite breeds :-).

I've never met anyone from here yet, and I don't know if I ever will, but one can always hope!

Brad AKA Moonwolf

I'm Bobby and I've been around since about 2006 on the cooking forum.... I visited the cleaning tips forum even as a teenager though so I've been familiar with Gardenweb for a few quite a few years now.... I remember when I could type www.thathomesite.com to get here and when they had an explanation for why it was called that home site.... and I remember before they started charging for membership, when they startedl and when they changed from charging to advertising! I turned 30 in September and live in Orlando, FL... I've met a few people from this group in real life and it's always a blast! This group has seen me through the majority of my 20s!

I work in timeshare (yuck!) during the day and do security overnight.... but I plan to return to school for nursing very soon...Just waiting on an answer about financial aid and going to check out a couple more schools to make the right decision...

I have 64 children.... They all get fed dirt and dust every day before I lock them in the closet... You might be asking what kind of dad I must be so....
Reckon I better explain that last bit.... Since I was old enough to comprehend what they were, I've been madly in love with vacuum cleaners.... I've always loved everything about them... I collect them, use them, fix them up, polish them, and adore them! And I was kidding about the closet part, my babies live on display in the living room!

Of course I also share my microscopic apartment with a 7 year old orange cat named Jasper... He's as fat as he is sweet (which is very)!

I also enjoy quilting even though I only have 3 sewing machines and not 64!

My love of gadgets is what got me interested in cooking in thr first place.... I must have at least two of every kitchen gadget ever invented... of course I also like to eat :o). I bake mostly, but I enjoy cooking as well.... especially if it's in the pressure cooker or on the induction cooker! My favorite foods are crab cakes and country fried steaks!

I am single and happily so... people always want to give sympathy when I tell them I'm single, but I am so independent and selfish with my time (I didn't mean for that to come out as awful as it sounds!) that when I try to date, the guy just ends up annoying me and I begin wishing I was single again! I enjoy the freedom of doing what I want when I want without anyone to answer to.... I think part of it has to do with living on my own for so like (since I was 23).... It has made me a bit set in my ways!

Ok that's about it for my intro... Annie, I am simply in shock! I didn't know you were retired already and it seems like just yesterday that you and Elery were getting married... wow! Nice to meet everyone!

This post was edited by vacuumfreak on Wed, Nov 27, 13 at 4:18

I'm Alexa.

I too go back to the days of Spike and I also remember the Great Cornbread Debacle. Good times!

I currently live in beautiful Bucks County PA but grew up in Maine and still consider myself a "Mainah" at heart. I have 2 great sons and 2 silly cats who all do their best to keep me entertained. I love to cook and while my kids were young, I chose to be a Stay At Home Mom and supplemented the family income by doing some small catering/Personal Chef services. I am recently back in the corporate world and really enjoy that too - despite that I don't have nearly the time to putter in the kitchen that I used to have.

I have had the pleasure of meeting a lot of forum friends over the years and look forward to the opportunity to meet more in the future!

Nice to meet so many new posters and great to see the old originals still hanging around.

Alexa

Hello....long time no post! I am Murphy and have been around the forum since 2006 I think. I just turned 65 and my memory is not what it used to be. I am happily single and have been since 1974. Three children who all live in other states. I live in upstate South Carolina. My current "housemates" are a small rotten dog, 11 chickens, and about 100,000 honey bees. Well, the chickens and bees don't actually live in the house....lol.
I got really annoyed a while back when the forum was opened or linked to Pinterest , can't remember the details and I stopped posting. You know how easy it is to get into a snit and it takes a while to forget what the snit was about.
I garden, quilt, sew, knit, and cook. I also lurk at the harvest forum and did some jelly making this year. I simply can not express my gratitude for all who do post on a regular basis. I have learned so much and had so many questions answered. I am a better cook because of it.
I too miss Lindac. Still make some of her recipes....the Cranberry Jezabel has become a staple and the Apple Cake with Cake Gravy is amazing.
I have never met anyone here in person, but feel I know you and think of you as "cyber friends". This is a very good thread in that we learn a bit more about the facts behind the names of the people. thanks Sharon/chase for starting it.

Murphy

I happened to be eating lunch on the stump of a freshly cut oak tree the day I signed up under this name.

I've been posting since 2005 I think. I love to cook, but daily cooking is not my strong suit due to lack of time, organization, and mostly lack of appreciation from my two young children. I find I spend more time reading about and thinking about what I'd like to cook than actually cooking.

What else can I say, I'm pretty boring compared to a lot of the previous posters. With the exception of 1.5 years of my college years and about four years of work that had me in different cities five days a week, I've spent my life in suburban Long Island.

I met my wife at work in 1999 and we'll celebrate our ten year wedding anniversary in January.

I've met a handful of members here, and hope to meet a few more at some point. I'm always happy to see some old names pop up out of the woodwork, and enjoy the fresh energy of newer members as well.

Not-so-new newbie piping up to say hello!

Been here for about a year, mostly lurking, somtimes posting questions and getting the most useful answers.

LOVE this friendly forum. If it weren't for this forum I wouldn't have baking my own bread for a year now.

And that's what WinterCat is when it's at home (by way of compensating for the brevity of this post):

Wintercat, I have one of those too.... this was fabric that I inherited from my grandmother.... I was just going through it when he felt the need to get all possessed!

A veritable force of nature :)

I'm Beebee. I am married to Bill. It is a second marriage for both of us. We've been married 24 years next month.

We live in the South in a small town about an hour from a large city. Like annie1992, the closest Trader Joe's is 4 hours away. DD used to live there and I always had a shopping list for her. She married last Spring and now lives just 2 hours away with her adorable husband. I'm super glad to have her closer, but I sure do miss the sacks of goodies from TJ's.

I was a lurker for years. I started lurking here when it was thathomesite.com. Then when you had to pay to play, I didn't. I came back in 2007 just as we were planning a total remodel of our kitchen. I tried working with 2 different kitchen designers, but ended up doing it myself with much help and guidance from the wonderful posters on the Kitchen Forum.

After the kitchen was finished, I finally had a place to cook so I moseyed over here. I've been interested in cooking since my early 20s. Mom is a good cook but she has a limited repertoire and no interest in expanding it. As a young adult, I made a pledge to myself to try to new recipes and to learn new techniques. Last week, I made chicken tiki masala...quite exotic for us!

DH and I both have professional degrees. He is retired. I work part-time to keep sane. We sold the house with the newly re-done kitchen and we are building a house. I'm shilly-shallying between a gas stove and an induction stove. I think induction is going to win.

I am grateful for all of the wonderful advice I get on this forum. I appreciate the time that many of you take to answer my questions.

Where did LindaC go?

It's always hard to follow cute kitties. :-)

Grainlady here, aka Karen to family and friends, and Oma to my teenage granddaughter. I married my high school sweetheart (43 years) and we have one adult daughter and an adult son.

Born and raised in the middle of wheat fields in Kansas, but my mother was from Ontario, Canada and my father (also born in Kansas) was raised in Saskatchewan, Canada where his parents homesteaded from Kansas when he was 4-years old in the early 1920's. My parents met during WWII and moved to Kansas (where it was warmer and there were plenty of my dad's family around) with their 2 Canadian children (a boy and a girl) in 1951, and I was born in 1952, and 4 years later another brother.

I've been posting since 2006 and have enjoyed all the recipes and information, as well as a glimpse into the lives of the most generous members on a message board.

I love food science, and it has become an avocation including lots of self-study and continuing education classes taken, and several certifications. I teach a lot of foods classes on a wide variety of subjects.

I've been milling and flaking my own grains/seeds/beans for decades, hence the name "grainlady". I have more than 40 different varieties of grains/seeds/beans in our home food storage room in the basement, and they play a big part in my meal planning - all the way from cooked whole grains to flour, sprouts, micro-greens and grasses. I'm mainly a whole foods person who makes her own "convenience" foods, cooks from scratch, and make it all work on a food budget of $125 a month for 2 adults.

-Grainlady

This post was edited by grainlady on Wed, Nov 27, 13 at 8:50

Hello, friends! I'm Teresa from North Carolina and I have been on this forum since 2002. I have two grown sons and recently lost my mini poodle, Andy, that I had for over 15 years. Cooking has been a passion since I was a young bride; I majored in Home Economics in college. At this stage in my life I don't cook as much as I did in the past, but good homemade food is still very important, even if for just one person.

My day job has been with a textile company here in my hometown for almost 18 years. In addition to the receptionist/switchboard position, I continue to coordinate events for our corporate office. In my past, I have taught cooking classes, quilting classes, and had a Personal Chef part-time business.

My small claim to fame here is the Bread Camp that I taught one sweltering summer weekend some years ago. Forum members came from all over to the class and we had a fun time. I traveled by train a few years ago to a forum get-together in Philly - what fun! If I ever get to retire, I might just do a Grand CF Tour and visit a bunch of you! Ha!!

Welcome to all the new members to this forum!
Teresa

Hi I'm Cindy from Northern Alberta I found this forum after getting help on the Far North Gardening forum in 2012. I had trouble adapting to a zone 2 garden. I am originally from BC and all my family is in the lower mainland and on the island. I have been married for 26 years and have 2 young adult children both living on their own. My husband is Grant and we have one furchild left she is 15 and has had a tough year we are starting to prepare to be empty nesters. We love to travel but on one income we are limited to where we go financially. Our big splurge was a trip to Israel in 2011. I was an at home mom until 2000 when I went back to school and became a pharmacy tech. I worked in pharmacy for 4 years then got a job closer to home repairing and installing debit machines until 2007 when I broke it took 2 years to start to feel normal again. I used to be a meat/ potatoes/ veggie cook but started to get bored. My creative side is now working again and I feel like me. I have learned alot on this forum about different foods and ways to cook some I have tried. I am thankful for how friendly you are here. I was too naive to realize how public this forum is and used my last name which brought me to changing country and stuff on my info page this confused AnnT (Sorry) so I fixed it. I love Christmas and cry at Christmas Carols a big sap you might say. It has been nice to get to know you.

My name is John (surprised?) and I live in Portland OR with my wife of 20 years, Mary aka SWMBO, and our two teenagers plus a couple of cats. We are California transplants, but after 7 years in Oregon I can look down and see the webbed feet.

I was born in New York City (Columbia Presbyterian), lived in New York, New Jersey, and Illinois for a while, then grew up in France (Paris mostly) and Canada (Vancouver BC) before going to Southern California for high school. Hmm, I'm conveniently disremembering my first year of high school back in New Jersey, in a school of knife-carrying trolls, it wasn't a happy place.

I bounced between L.A. and the San Francisco Bay Area for the next couple of decades of school, career, more school, new career. My spiritual heart is in Berkeley, California, where I spent six years at school and seven years at work. If I have a home, it is there. I've left Berkeley many times but always returned, and I expect I'll find myself living there again someday.

My eldest child, Daughter-san, is finishing high school and will be off at college somewhere next year. When she was six months old, my wife and I sold our house, put all our things in storage, left our first careers, and took our baby on a meandering world trip. For the next year we lived in cheap hotels, campgrounds, gites, pensions, never spending more than a day apart. My daughter took it all in with big brown eyes and her dad was in her sight every day and every night. She has been my best friend ever since, and every year as she has grown I have mourned losing the old Kate while welcoming the new Kate. Next year I will lose the 18 y/o Kate but I won't get the 19 y/o Kate, and I am bracing myself for how much that is going to hurt.

My younger child, Son-fu, is entering high school next year. Since we are both boys, I can't help but compare him to me as a child, and I'm both thrilled and rueful to see how much better he is in almost every way. Dear son is a fine dancer, athletic with tremedous balance on skateboard, RipStick and unicycle, bright and articulate, a stylish little hipster clotheshorse who routinely goes to school in a three piece pinstripe suit, very popular at with teachers and kids alike, lead boy in the school plays and dances, and, most of all, unfailingly kind. In his first year of middle school, there were a few special needs kids in his core class. His teacher told us how DS spent hours every week helping those kids with schoolwork, rather than hanging with the popular kids of whom he was the most (popular). I can't wait to see how he grows up, and I'm dreading his growing up.

As for me, cooking is my primary hobby. I go in jags, get immersed in one project or technique or cuisine for a few weeks, then switch to something else. I usually cook French-ish, Chinese-ish or Japanese-ish stuff but have dabbled in Italian-ish, Indian-ish, and other ish-es. I'm not usually a recipe-follower, but prefer to experiment and learn from my mistakes.

I enjoy cooking more than eating, and don't usually like cooking for myself. I seldom got to restaurants, save cheap ethnic street food joints. When SWMBO and the kids are visiting friends in California during the summer, I'll go through weeks of eating from cans and Top Ramen packs. Happily.

My other pastime, which I mention sometimes, is cycling. Six days a week I am a utility cyclist. I commute every day on my bicycle, rain or shine, and do most nearby errands and grocery runs on the pedals. One or two days a week I put on the lycra tights, take the fast bike or get on the spin bike, and try to fight back the years. There is a certain neighborhood of cycling that appeals to masochists and self-flagellants, and I'm afraid I like to visit there. I'm happier riding in the rain and cold than in the sunshine, and I try to include a healthy dose of pain and suffering in every ride.

Cooking and cycling are somewhat antithetical. Let's put it this way - a "large" in traditional road cycling clothing is a stretched-skintight fit on a hypothetical man with a 38 inch chest and a 32 inch waist weighing 165 lb - and no-one likes wearing "XL" or "XXL" even if they really should. So my third pastime seems to be dieting, which I unfortunately also do in jags. When I stop posting in the forum for weeks at a time, it is probably because my "cooking" consists of beet juice, raw fish and salad. Believe me, you're not missing anything.

I turned 50 y/o this year, and to be honest I am anticipating a difficult few years ahead. SWMBO and I will lose our kids, at least in their current enjoy-them-every-day form, and will probably lose another parent or two. It will be particularly hard for SWMBO, who left her career as a lawyer to become a full-time mother some 18 years ago. My mind is increasingly occupied with topics like downsizing, 401k returns, Social Security dates, and long-term planning, but at the same time I'm not nearly ready for any of it, either emotionally or otherwise. So my wife and I will both need some mental relief. We'll see if that makes me more into cooking, or less. Maybe I'll take up fencing, or yoga.

This post was edited by johnliu on Wed, Nov 27, 13 at 14:00

I'm Betty (Big shock huh?), married to Alfred (18 years next June). He is the love of my life. It took me 40 years & 3 tries to find him & he is worth the wait. We will both be 60 next July. We've both lived in Central Virginia all of our lives.

I have a grown daughter Tori, who is 36, a single Mom for the past 3 years to my 3 precious grandsons Devin 16, Eli 10 & Gage 4. They live next door, if you don't count the woods between us.

Alfred has 7 children. He had 6 kids still at home when we married. The "Baby", Terry (who is 19) made us empty-nesters when he left for college in August. He is only 2 hours away, but it seems longer. I have 11 step-grandchildren strewn from 25 miles away to NC & Florida.

I'm a retired Deputy Sheriff since Dec 07. Alfred was badly injured in June of 08 in a work related accident. I'm so grateful that God let me keep him & that he only has minor residual problems from the accident. When the Dr released him to go back to work he switched jobs & now works maintenance for a company that produces the Big Green Egg as well as other grills and wood/pellet stoves.

I do private sitting with an elderly gentleman at night to help fund college. Eli is sitting here reading what I'm typing and said, "What are you talking about, Nanny? YOU are elderly!" Don't you just LOVE grandkids!

I mostly cooked country style meals with a lot of crock pot use & anything I could get on the table fast after work for years. My family is grateful that I found y'all. They get lots more variety in their meals.

Can't remember when I started here. Originally typed Antique Roses into Google which led me to the Antique Rose forum, participated on the Holidays forum for quite a while, then Butterfly forum as well as on & off lurking here.

I love this thread! I'm learning so much about all of you. I hope everyone participates.

I miss LindaC, too.

Happy Thanksgiving!

I'm thankful for y'all and your patience with me. You CAN teach an old dog new tricks!

Betty

How wonderful to have so many oldies and newbies join in...this forum is so rich and varied

Have no time to read all the posts now but will when I snuggle up in bed tonight....

My name is Karen and I live in Pennsylvania with my husband. We have two grown-up children, a son and a daughter. And now we're lucky enough to have two granddaughters, a ten month old and a four year old. They are perfect except for living more than four hours away. So I've become more interested in dinners that freeze well and travel well.

Like many others, I came to this forum from the Kitchen Forum. That was ten years ago, and some of my friends here were planning kitchens at the same time, while others had been through it all, and were our very valuable advisers.

I've been cooking and baking for a long time. Baking has always interested me more, the doing and especially the eating. I don't make all my own bread any more, as I did when my kids were growing up, but I keep thinking I'll get back to it.

The traditions surrounding food interest me. For me that's a good deal of the pleasure of the cooking and especially baking experience. I like to connect with a long past. Christmas baking is a good example. A lot of what I make is based on old European traditions. I love that it goes on, through my children and now my grandchildren.

Genealogy is my main hobby, I guess. It has history, it has family, it has mysteries that must be solved.

I've been coming here since 2004. First discovered GW New England gardening forum but once I found the CF I don't think I ever went back! I live on the outer reaches of Cape Cod. Originally from the midwest, married to a native New Englander for 35 years.

I left my profession to travel with my husband on business in 2000. That might sound glamorous or pretentious but it's really not. What it meant was I didn't have to live alone in a remote place by myself most of the time. We ultimately moved to the Netherlands for 2 years (2006-2008) because of his job and this forum was a lifeline for me while I was there. I regret never learning how to post photos.

Since we moved back to the US, I've been battling breast cancer - surgeries, treatments, drug side effects. Finally I'm starting to believe I will be a "survivor".

We are both now retired, and share our home with 2 Australian Shepherds. I love to cook and garden. Haven't posted much since LindaC's banishment. Very disturbing for me.

I've learned so much about cooking and life from this forum. So I decided to return.

Peace to all,

seagrass

This post was edited by seagrass on Wed, Nov 27, 13 at 21:10

Can any please explain who is lindac and who banished her? why? Apparently she means a lot to those on this forum. Can you still be banished?

Hello everyone!

In case you forgot or are pretty new, I'm Nancy. I haven't posted for awhile, I needed to step back. I love seeing some of the long time people posting, now that just might turn me around.
As many have mentioned, LindaC was a big part of the CF and her leaving was something I couldn't understand.

I joined GW over 10 years ago after lurking for quite awhile. I am now retired and have more time to cook, eat and play with recipes. I love to bake and cook and have really been into using as many local ingredients as possible. Organic or at least pesticide free is my goal.

At one time I owned a deli that featured salads, soups, appetizers, and grilled specialties. We baked all our breads and cookies and I had fun trying new ideas for foods. We also did catering and I still do a little of that for certain customers.
I live in NW Lower Michigan and business was pretty seasonal.

Another reason for my lack of posting has been my involvement on Pinterest. I must follow 200 blogs and enjoy looking for good recipes to pin to my boards. That takes time! I have over 55,000 followers and it's a challenge to pin recipes I think will be enjoyed. It has also sparked my interest in trying some new recipes.

In September I realized that my Mom could no longer live alone. She just had a birthday this week and turned 93 and is very happy being waited on in a super nice nursing home just five miles from me. It's been a busy fall with moving her, cleaning out her apartment and I visit her about every other day. She's doing well but her dementia is progressing.

Nancy....email me if you want a link to my Pinterest boards.

Oh my, could someone lead me to the rule book? : D
I've been booted from forums. Just stupid things really. I deleted a post once to re-write it
more clear, fell asleep, got busy at work for a few days, visited and was dismissed, lol.
No deleting allowed!
Another was moderated by a similar person, (spike?)
We called ours 'kenny'. He was dull and powerful and slapped us like grade school kids.
We were talking about chairs! We all left at about the same time, but had e-mail connections at that point so we are now connected on another forum. The old one had 500 post a week and now is dead with maybe one a week.

I'm an artist and designer. Have gardened for years organically. It is my therapy.
We cook with what we grow and we learn from what we gather from travel and experiences. We wake up laughing and end a day telling stories about our day....
always in the kitchen. Around food and love, nothing is a dull day here.

Hi folks, I came over here from the kitchen forum when we finished our renovations a couple years ago. Elba was the name of our beautiful black lab brood we had one summer about 5 years ago. I've been married 22yrs, and I work per diem as a physical therapist. We have 2 high schoolers - our son is a senior, and our daughter is a junior.
Last fall I got hives & thought it could be food related. In the spring I found a book called "The Plan" - food elimination/rotation plan for reducing inflammation. I've lost a little over 30 pounds, which is great. I'm at a healthy weight, and just recently figured out that the hives are from MSG related derivatives. I now know that "natural flavor" is not natural! I ate pretty well before, but didn't realize that things like my constant comment tea were making me itchy, and confess to having had a can of cream of mushroom soup always in the pantry. So now I am totally on the "cook from scratch" bandwagon. I have learned so much from here over the past couple years. It can be overwhelming, so I'm changing a little at a time. Recently bought "Artisan Bread in 5 Minutes a Day" and now make our own dough for pizza on Friday nights. Just ordered some tomato powder, when it comes in - all sauces from scratch and no more cans with BPA. I want to keep expanding my bread making, and maybe make my own yogurt. I also think I should be sprouting my seeds. Thanks for all the help - whenever I ask a question, I always get good and helpful suggestions!

I am Cathy, I live in Tampa with my DH (also known as HG-the House Guest). We went to high school together, went away to college, then I manipulated a reconnectthrough> ran into him a few years. We have one beautiful daughter who is an outstanding mother to the best things in my life…my grandkids known as BeauLily. We have three rescue cats…sssshhh, don’t tell them.

I worked many years as a seminar facilitator for my company, a job that required 75% travel around the US. The last 12 years I was an HR officer and my travel was cut to 25%, I loved it but was laid off along with 2,200 other employees. I love to travel internationally so the frequently flyer points I racked up with my job sure helped get us where we wanted to go.

Like many, I have been participating back to the Spike days. I also frequent the Home Decorating and the Organizing the Home forums. I have been fortunate to meet 35+ CF members and have organized several CF Camps (Bread Camp, Canning Camp, Pigeon Forge Pajama Party, Michigan Babes & Beefcakes, Beach Babes). Jessy was my first; Vacuumfreak my latest.

I am always learning from the skilled CF contributors. While I’m not at the level of expertise that most of you are, I do have all the tools necessary, and some that are not necessary, to create and serve just about anything food related, hence the nickname Gadget Queen.

My screen name (Mustangs) comes from our girls’ fastpitch organization that the HG and I created 32 years ago-The Tampa Mustangs. Most of our activities and attention is directed to managing the Mustangs Organization. We are nationally known because of our numerous National Championships and our claim to fame--winner of the first International Softball Federation World Cup (beating China in the championship).

I have made some lasting friends from the CF and hope to meet more as all have been super people.

Nice idea, Sharon. It's been awhile... good to see some new faces, as well as old friends. I've been (sporadically) posting since Spike days, also. Not sure how long...a year or two before paid subscriptions. Never got sent to the teacups, but I got a warning note or two.

DH and I live in the boontoolies on a mountain in North Idaho where we had a custom woodworking business. DH is recently almost-retired and will (hopefully) actually have time to finish our house. We have one daughter, Liana, aka The Kid, who lives about an hour away. She and fiance are getting married "maybe next summer" and I'm told there will be a grandchild "someday"....sighhhh.....

We grow a big garden... a challenge in our short season and we're in a snow belt, but we usually manage a decent harvest. Garlic is my thing and potatoes are his (Idaho boy, hehe). We put up a lot of our food. We live 1/2 hr. from a grocery store and I hate to run out of anything, so we have a big pantry and multiple freezers. What we can't grow ourselves we try to buy locally...I'm getting darn picky about where my food comes from. And we're totally spoiled on the quality of homegrown and homemade. Latest food venture is fermenting.

I run a small library district with two branches and not enough budget. Meaning along with admin duties and buying/cataloging the books, I also unplug toilets and mop floors.

In my spare time I try to stay healthy, walk a lot and go to yoga class a couple of times a week. I spend a lot of time dealing with the gardening cycle (start/plant/weed/harvest/put up), and I teach a few food preservation classes and judge at our county fair...I think I'm the last standing Master Food Preserver in our county. I'm also on our Chamber of Commerce board, helping mostly with PR and events. On Monday I'll be serving up chili, hot dogs and cocoa for 300 kids and their families at our Christmas on Main St.

I met several wonderful CF members at Canning Camp. I'd just been diagnosed with breast cancer and my doc thought I was absolutely nuts because I postponed surgery until I got back. Well worth it...it was one of the best vacations I've ever had (and everything turned out ok in the end!).

I hope some of our MIA CFers chime in!

This post was edited by katiec on Fri, Nov 29, 13 at 21:14

Hello,yes Ive been here many years too.
Well Im married ,43 years I have 3 grown children,4 grandchildren.I was always full of life I did everything,gardening,crafts cooking,baking ,decorating my 1790 farmhouse,antiquing,we have horses we raise texas longhorn cattle,donkies,chickens.I tried everything, I think I make wreaths of all kinds,I enjoy getting on here seeing what everyones up to if my body allows me.
I found out when I was 18,after losing my mother and finding out I had kidney problems,so from 18 to now over 40 yrs Ive been dring for this,sonograms,drugs,blood work,this dr that dr to now,now Ive been on dialysis 7 yrs,mainly because of dr error but Im on the list, Im eager to get back to my life Imiss it very much,I feel like life is passing me by.Happy Holidays everyone..

I'm Janet - just stuck with the screen name cookie as I lack creativity and just ate a cookie so there you get 8cookie but the website didn't like so I tried cookie8, voila. GW is the first forum I ever used so I am much more selective with my screen names now.
I have four kids - 13, 12, 6 and 4 - was supposed to be three children but at this point can't choose which one to give away. JK. I love gardening and cooking which is a good thing because food sensitivies have creeped up on us big time so creativity is a must. My garden flower gardens are more whimsical and cottage. Veg gardens are organic. We are also DIYer's here.
I went back to work in early September and ended up quitting last week. I will go back in two years once things are taken care of here. My biggest personality trait - disorganized. I am giving myself two years to purge, organize and teach the rest of the family (fingers crossed). This is like the blind leading the blind unfortunately. Wish me luck.
Happy reading.

Good to see a lot of old timers here--and newcomers, too! Like many others, I came here from the Kitchens Forum; I've been here on the CF since 2004. When I first joined, I noticed that a lot of people chose screen names like "Mom2FourKids," and, since I had recently become an empty nester, I chose to call myself MTnester. (And no, I live in Baltimore, not Montana.) My name is Sue. I'm originally from Connecticut but came to Baltimore for graduate studies, met DH, and settled down here.

My DH, Bob, recently retired at age 70 from his job doing research for the city housing dept, but he still goes to the office about 1 day a week. We have two kids: Diana is 37 (happily married to her wife Karin), and Andrew is 31. There are no grandchildren on the horizon (sigh!). They live in Seattle, so we don't see them often, but it's always a special occasion when they come to visit. All three of them are "foodies" with adventuresome palates, and my daughter and DIL are vegetarians as well, so I usually post a plea for "Help!" on the CF when planning a menu for them. In addition, my disabled cousin Peter has been living with us since 2009. He has psychiatric problems and diabetes and can't manage on his own. We have our ups and downs (as all families do), but the arrangement is generally working well. I spend a lot of time driving him to doctor appointments and taking care of his needs. I do the same for a dear friend/neighbor who is a cancer patient.

After 2 years of teaching French in the 1960s, I spent most of my working life as an editor for a medical publishing company (when my kids were little, I spent 12 years as an SAHM but then returned to the same company). Toward the end of my career, there were many changes and stresses in the job, and I was definitely burnt out (but didn't realize it). I had always LOVED my job, and yet it was killing me! I was in a dilemma about whether to quit. I posted a thread on the Conversations side of the Kitchens Forum and received lots of helpful advice from others who had "been there." I'll always be grateful for that support! It took me a long time to recover from the stress (I still get upset whenever I think about it). But I am at peace with that decision.

I spend most of my time working on genealogy. I've two created scrapbooks about my family history and my BIL's family. A third book, about DH's ancestors, is in the works. The scrapbooks contain a brief narrative, supplemented with old photos, maps, Census and immigration documents, and other illustrations that help to tell the tale. I'm having them printed and bound as hardcover books to give to my children and my sister and her family. Recently, I've also become the editor of a newsletter publication for the Jewish Genealogy Society of Maryland.

For many years, cooking was just something I did to put food on the table for my family--and toward the end of my working life, I was mainly doing the minimal necessary for survival. But since I retired, I've taken a greater interest, and I have more time, so my cooking has improved a lot. I've learned so much here at the CF, and I've been inspired to use recipes that, in the past, I would never have considered attempting. I will never be a fancy cook or a gourmet, but I can now produce nutritious and delicious meals that all of us enjoy. Even though I'm mostly a lurker these days, I enjoy reading the CF and contributing the occasional post.

Sue

Forty Five posts and I think I am the only duplicate poster......

That's way cool over 40 of us...and I know there are more out there!

Now that Thanksgiving's over maybe a few more will chime in.

Greetings to you from Ruthanna (Ruth). I live in a small house in a small village in eastern PA with Nelson, my husband of nearly 40 years. We are retired empty nesters, with our two daughters and granddaughter all married and living in widespread parts of the country. We also have a second home in Florida on an island between the Indian River and the Atlantic Ocean.

I am glad that at an age when many of my friends are tired of cooking, I still enjoy trying new recipes or creating new dishes. The Cooking Forum has been a great source of inspiration and information. We have followed the tenets of VS (Voluntary Simplicity) for decades so my cooking style is somewhat shaped by the absence of many appliances and gadgets present in most kitchens.

My favorite items to cook are soups and creative vegetable side dishes. Except for pies, I don't get much pleasure from baking.

I found the CF in 1998 by following a link from the quantity-cooking website Growlies for Groups when I was planning a brunch for after our wedding vow renewal ceremony.

I enjoy all types of needlework and entertaining and both DH and I are very active volunteers in our community. We are both cancer survivors and treasure each and every day.

Edited.

This post was edited by barnmom on Wed, Dec 18, 13 at 14:20