Why is Diane writing about recipes?

Thank you for stopping by.  Before friends and family start calling to make fun of me for writing about anything to do with cooking, let me just say… get up off the floor and grow up!  People change and I can explain…

I have never been known to enjoy spending time in a kitchen cooking although I truly appreciate a great meal.  When we built this house 20 years ago I tried to convince the builder and my husband to not bother putting in a kitchen.   Why spend so much money on a room for brewing coffee and eating take-out?  Unfortunately I was convinced to add the kitchen because of  resale value.

Now I’m actually a pretty good cook and I have some recipes that are family favorites that I hope to share with you.  I feel great when friends compliment me on meals or ask for copies of my recipes.  It’s just that I always consider a successful meal one where the smoke alarm doesn’t start bleating and I don’t end up at the emergency room in need of stitches. I also have so many interests such as sewing, painting, crafts, reading, photography, gardening, jewelry making, that I get caught up in those things and find that dropping what I’m working on to put together a regularly scheduled meal is just boring and an interruption.  It’s usually too late to make anything exciting.  I never have enough or the right ingredients on hand due to poor or no planning on my part.  And so, I pull out whatever happens to be in the fridge just to get it over with.  Or even better!  Restaurants!!!  I’m a huge fan of restaurants both to sit down and enjoy a great meal or take-out.  It helps out the local economy, cuts down on your electric bill since you’re not using that energy sucking stove or dishwasher, and let’s face it, they’re experts – that’s why they were invented.

I am very lucky that for years my daughter was perfectly happy with mac & cheese out of a box and my husband having spent a few years in the army can actually eat just about anything as long as it resembles meat and potatoes and doesn’t look like a vegetable.

I got bagged one day by my mother who used to babysit my daughter who was 4 years old at the time.  I guess I might have been stretching the restaurant thing a bit too far because my mother asked me if we’d been eating out a lot lately.  (We had just moved in to our new home so of course the kitchen wasn’t broken in yet and we were still checking out the local restaurants to see what was available). When I asked Mom why she would ask such a thing,  she told me that at lunch, she made Niki some very tasty homemade chicken wings only to be told by my daughter when her plate was placed in front of her “That’s not what I ordered Grammie!”.

Nicole the drama queen when her meal’s not quite right

I decided it might be a good idea to plan some meals and make use of the kitchen but my heart was never really in it.  There were some good meals, occasionally a great meal, and of course some meals that no one really wanted a repeat of.

But then my daughter went to study abroad in Florence, Italy and took additional side trips throughout Italy and Europe.  She took some breathtaking photographs many which include photos of restaurants, small food shops, and farmers markets. My husband and I were thrilled to visit her and had the chance to explore Rome, Florence, Siena, and Venice.  Of course the meals in Italy were inspirational, especially accompanied by the local wines.

And so, you see that it all ties together.  If you read my post “My Daughter Returns Home” you will better understand how an inspirational trip to Italy, hundreds of beautiful photographs, and a daughter who asks for recipes brought me into the kitchen.  I actually am enjoying cooking when I have the time and hope to share my recipes with you as well as many of the memorable photos taken by Niki.  And if my daughter can spare a few minutes, I hope to co-author this blog with Niki since she’s a lot more creative than I am.

Also, since I’m now spending a lot more time in “the spare room” and it is about 20 years old, I am ready to embark on a kitchen re-do which I hope to post updates on once I actually get started.  The new tile floor will be first to replace the old vinyl due to a mishap a few years ago when Lola, our Bernese Mountain Dog decided that vinyl made a great snack & ate the floor.  And yes, I will definitely be writing about Lola who’s name comes from the song in Damn Yankees, “Whatever Lola wants, Lola gets”.  There will be many Lola stories and special cooking instructions with my recipes that includes cooking around a “plus size” dog.