I'll add the link to the first part.

Nancy

Here is a link that might be useful: Part 1 of the 2008 Roll Call

I live in Atlanta, Georgia with my DH of nine years, two daughters (7 & 4), a dog, a cat, two hermit crabs and a tarantula. I joined GardenWeb about three years ago when we remodeled the kitchen, then moved over here when we were mostly done. Mostly, I lurk. I work part-time as a tech writer.

I love to cook (especially bake), but get into ruts when we're so busy I hardly step into the kitchen. We're emerging from one of the super-busy times now, and I can't wait to get back into the kitchen.

WOW!!!! What a diverse internet community here. I too just read all 150 plus entries on Gina's roll call. I can't remember when I joined but I just migrate to whatever forum is about what I am thinking of at the moment. At 59, I find that I suffer from memory loss at times. Not a real problem, I just suffer :) I mostly started out at the buying and selling homes as I had to move from the Atlanta area to Upstate SC a couple of years ago. I spend most of my time here on the cooking forum but also go to pets, sewing, gardening in the carolinas, the building remodeling forums and recipe exchange. I too have learned a lot about cooking from everyone here and you all have my heartfelt thanks. I am single (for about 35 years), have 4 children two in CA, one in VA, and one in Atlanta. I garden, cook, sew, scrapbook, and do some other handi craft type things to keep my retired self busy.
Thanks to everyone.
I just might post again, this has been fun....stepping out of lurkerville LOL
Oh, BTW my non-cyber name is Betty.

I love this forum. I discovered it 2 years ago, after having been on the kitchen forum and remodelled my kitchen. I was never a cook before that, but aimed for learning just a few simple home-cooked meals so we could have friends over. I'm very visual and love being in my new kitchen - and am completely inspired and enthused from the discussion on this forum. So I've moved past just wanting to cook a few simple meals for guests.

I love cooking now - although I'm still a newbie in terms of my skills- and I don't get to do it often enough. But what a pleasure. It's a chance to slow down and spend time doing something just for the pleasure of it - the cooking and the socializing with guests. I've always been a foodie by taste and appreciation, but never before anticipated that I'd be making meals I enjoyed so much.

I live in DC - with my husband of 11 years and my 8 1/2 yo daughter (who deems almost everything I cook as "disss-gusting!) - but her tastes are extremely limited. At least she thinks being a foodie and appreciating a range of foods is a good thing to aim for - but she's not past easy mac, chicken mcnuggets and pizza yet.

I'm a psychologist and absolutely love my work. I love the intimacy, the intensity and the opportunity to truly help people. My role when growing up was the helper-mediator-confidante - so it comes naturally. Being on this forum is a real change for me. I'm inexperienced and am the one seeking advice and expertise from others. I truly appreciate the warm welcome and the help that comes whenever I need it - no matter how frequently or infrequently I post.

Thanks everyone. You're great.

Lynn.

I actually am printing out this post. I do not seem to have the encyclopedic memory that some of you do! I can't hardly keep the names of all my relatives straight!

Lpinkmountain has "L" for Laurie, which is my first name. I don't really like to use it on the forum, because I am kind of a privacy freak when it comes to the Web. Pinkmountain is the english translation of my german last name. Feel free to call me Lpink, or "Pinkie" as has been done here occasionally! :) I do like the color pink, it's true.

I have met several CF'ers in person and have received nice gifts from San and Jessica which were real day brighteners. I can attest to the fact that this is a very special group of people, no doubt about it. Those of you whom I only know virtually have brightened my days and my kitchen! I wish life weren't so hectic and I could get out to see more of you, and do more cooking. I only manage to cook sporadically now, practically exclusively on weekends so it depends on what else I have going on the weekend whether I cook or not.

What I love most about CF is the kindred spirits. A lot of people do not cook now days and have no appreciation for "real food." For me, real food is about a lot more than taste and health, but those are two primary benefits from it. It is soul too. And about your relationship with the earth. I also love to garden when I can find time and space in my busy, urban life.

My field is natural resources, environmental education, science teaching, professional development. I've had lots of jobs and it is getting a little old. I ran camps for many years, worked at nature centers and colleges. I basically consider myself a "teacher naturalist" but I am trying to gain a new skill set, nature study is on the wane as a financially viable occupation!

I'm originally from Michigan, and consider myself a Michigander in exile. My folks live back there and I have lots of friends there too. I consider MI "home" but have lived in PA for many years. I love this state too, but it can never really be home, I have one foot in the Midwest and one food out east, which is kind of apt to describe my whole personality--mixed. My folks had a mixed marriage of Jewish and Christian, so I'm pretty culturally flexible.

As far as food, I am a 30 year vegetarian who occasionally eats a little meat, so go figure. I am not very dexterous, so my cooking runs along the hash, stew, soup, casserole, chopped salad lines. My favorite cuisine is anything mediterranean. I don't do much french, but most of the others. I got into N. African when it was the theme of one of our virtual dinners. When I bake it is quick bread, bar or drop cookies. I have baked yeast bread but it's not going to work for my lifestyle right now. I wish I could afford a bread machine!

Amazing all the new faces. I seem to miss some old ones, so I hope you'll check in.

Hey, maybe I'll be the last one to chime in on this one. I joined the GW forums when you had to pay in order to post. I can't recall how I found them, but I know I started with the garden topics and then found the cooking forums and I was hooked.

I check in here and read what's going on daily but I don't post all that often. My recipes aren't computerized so when I do post one I dig it out of my tried and true box and type it by hand. I'm not a baker, but I've been baking more since our move here than I did in the past - just to have things familiar to us.

My husband I & met each other in college in Ohio. He dragged me back to his native New England with him in 1979 and we've lived there ever since, except for a 2-year job assignment (for him) that brought us to the Netherlands in 2006. We're moving back to the States this summer.

I'm an almost-retired audiologist, no kids, 2 Australian shepherds, married 30 years in the fall. I love to garden, cook, entertain, decorate and travel.

I've learned so much from the CF - not merely cooking but about the great "stew" of life. I don't post personal things - don't know why but just don't feel comfortable with that. It's comforting to know that support and advice are at the ready on the "conversations" side from the collective care and wisdom of people here.

One of the things that I really want to do very soon is try my hand at posting photos so I can share a bit of Holland with you before I leave. It's a beautiful country. Culinary-wise it's somewhat challenged but I've loved every minute it.

seagrass

Seagrass, it's nice to know you better! My undergrad degree is in Communicative Disorders and audiology was going to be my field before I met DH! I had to laugh about your comment regarding Dutch food. We were there visiting about 30 years ago and I thought the only thing that was really good was Indonesian food---rijsttafel-- (for the rest of you- it means rice table, think Satay or nasi goreng) etc! I'm not a big fan of fried foods and I particularly remember fried short ribs being on one of the dutch menus eeewww!

Compumom,

Thank you for the friendly greeting.

One of our only regrets about being in Holland is the food. Overall, it's unimaginative and bland. The Dutch had (have??) the Spice Islands but it's very watered down at this end. Satay and nasi goreng only go so far and that's about it in terms of interesting food here. Not one of our ex-pat friends from many other countries has complimentary things to say about the food here.

That said, ingredients for just about anything you want to cook are available.

Our Dutch landlord (age 60) told us at Thanksgiving that he "likes what he knows".

They travel extensively but their adventure seems limited to scenery and not what's on the plate.

It's been frustrating, and I've been cooking way more than I want. We vacation in Germany, Belgium, France, Italy - the food is fantastic. Just not here!

Our favorite place for lunch is a Lebanese street vendor near the Hague - kip doner met alles (sliced composite chicken meat off a spit on a fresh baked roll with salad, yogurt and hot pepper sauces). All for 2.35 euros. It costs more for a cheeseburger at the neighboring McDonalds.

I'm 1/4 Dutch, and I can vouch for it being a limited cuisine. Good baked goods, the Dutch are great gardeners and revel in fresh produce. Good fresh stuff all around, but that's about it. I think that's why I revel in the sensuous food of the Mediterranean! Same ingredients can be found throughout Europe, but it's zestier somehow in the mediterranean. But I credit my Dutch ancestry to fostering my other passions, gardening and preserving/canning. That's why the other place I hang out is the Harvest forum.

Cream tea and cookies in the afternoon, (on the nice china) is a great love I acquired from my Dutch grandma, who got it from her mom. To this day, what binds that side of my family together is tea and cookies!

Hi, I started, like many, in Kitchens years ago and then started lurking in Cooking and Garden Web forums. My DH(27 yrs) and I have a large garden, including several blueberry bushes. We live in central VA, have 2 great sons in their early 20s, and 2 dogs, brother and sister. The Cooking Forum is full of wonderful people, recipes, pictures and general information. Thanks to all for their recipes I have copied.
(Stirfry is because I lived in Okinawa)

Barbara

I found this forum when I was searching for a stuffed cabbage recipe. Took a year or so before I finally registered and jumped in to post! I really enjoy the camaraderie and friendships here on the forum! I love the humor and how everyone is quick to help out out so many people they've never met, as Ashley, Annie's daughter calls us, all the imaginary friends :)

I work in a nursery school during the year and in the summers I am a baking counselor when it is a camp. My two kids have gone there and grown up there, and they let me run amuck in the baking room where I teach little kids how to make cupcakes and all kinds of fun things like fake sushi with rice crispy treats and fruit rollups. The funny part is I can't really bake so well, and it all ends up to be one really big food fight!

Seagrass, I remember when you posted you were moving, time flies so fast, you will be home soon!

Carol

Hi, I've been a member since 2002. I started out in the Garden forums, but I visit many of the forums. Right now I'm usually on Home Decorating, Cooking, Pools and Spas and Cottage gardening.
I'm addicted to the forums and visit several times a day, especially since I went wireless. This is my treasure trove for information. If I need to know anything or need a suggestion, I come right to the forums. I can always count on all the wonderful folks to help out.

I hail from Kentucky and I am a kindergarten teacher. I love to garden and cook. I have three children (27 yr. son, 26 yr. daughter, and 22 yr. son). I also have a seven year old grandson and a granddaughter due any day now.

Well, I came to Garden Web via another website several years ago under a different name on a pregnancy forum before Aleksi was born and she is 5. Lurked alot. Aleksi is my 5 yo granddaughter who lives with us, and makes my day. DH and I are semi-retired, I do contract paralegal work from home. DH and I have lived most of our lives in Texas, with a few years in California. I've been told I have some kind of an accent, but can't figure it out..lol. I've had the pleasure of personally meeting some great forum friends in California and Louisiana and only an ice storm in San Antonio for heaven's sake kept me from meeting another. I definitely take more from this forum than I could ever give, both personally and culinary-wise. A wonderful rally of support helped me through some difficult times with some medical issues last year and if you don't believe in the power of this forum....give me a call.

It's been really crazy here in San Antonio the last month and I thought I should give up the forum, but seems it helps with the craziness.

I'm sliding in late here....great idea Gina as I see lots of new peeps posting here since I went MIA for what seems like forever.

David here, I can't remember when I first started posting but I do have recipes printed out dating back to 99. I found this place while doing a web search for a new washer and dryer way back when.

I recently sold my lake property and moved to the burbs north of Tulsa. Still settling in to my new place and finishing the clean up from my second major ice storm in less than a year. I love to cook, bake, grill, and smoke....that would be meat BTW....we won't mention my wild days way back when..LOL. I love to entertain and have parties, that is where my major cooking comes into play...along with holidays and family gatherings. There are nine of us kids thanks to the marriage-go-round as we call it. I share my place with Lucy, a Great Dane, and two rescue cats Chuck and Smokey.

I love this forum and all of it's members and have been one of the lucky ones to meet more then one of y'all in person. A big hello to all of our new members.....sure hope you join in on the fun and let us get to know you better. This is the best place on the net for sure.

Hey Marla! I remember you and if I remember you are down in strawberry country. I know we had a few other Okies here way back when....one did a cross country bike ride if I remember correctly.....anyway.. hi to all my old friends here and welcome to all of the lurkers coming out of hiding!!

David
(still your resident lakeguy but now one of those weekenders!)

Ok.....I'll chime in and admit that I just generally lurk and STEAL all your good recipes and am astounded at how great cooks you all are and how much love you all share towards each other and to your cooking. I keep collecting while sitting on the fence!!! I LOVE STEALING YOUR RECIPES!!!! and I'M NOT ASHAMED!!! (Bree....... the closet recipe stealer)

Hey, what a fun thread!

I have only been visiting this forum for about 3 months or so, originally getting into Garden Web through the Canning forum.

My name really is Rachel, and Ellen is my middle name. I am 47, married for a year and a half...my husband is 47 as well, and it is the first marriage for us both. Slow starters. ;D
No kids. At the moment we have 2 cats, an old grumpus of a male and a sprightly, mischievous kitten (almost cat), having lost my 21 year old Suzu Badcat last winter. We have also recently acquired Outdoorcat, whom I started feeding when someone moved away and left him. I can't bring him in because the old grumpus would have a fit having another male cat in the house...so I'm currently looking for a home for him.

I have been cooking since I could manage pouring things into a bowl. My mother was a truly horrible cook, but I bless her for teaching me the basics so that I was at least not intimidated by cooking. I moved in with a Chinese family for about 6 months when I was 17, and that started my life long love for and fascination with ethnic foods.

I am an eclectic cook...my husband never really knows what I might put in front of him, luckily he's wonderfully open minded and willing to try new things. I learned the basics of Chinese cooking from that family and kept going from there. I had many Japanese friends as a teen and learned a bit from their mothers, and then worked in a Japanese restaurant for 8 years and learned a lot more.

I was born in Southern Maine, but lived most of my life in the San Francisco Bay Area. When I decided that I would like to some day move to a more rural area, I realized that what I'd miss most was the variety of foods available. So, I started to teach myself to cook the foods of India, and have gained sufficiency enough to slake my desire for dals and curries and their lovely vegetable salads and sambhars when the mood strikes as I now do live in the Central valley...many Mexican restaurants, a few Chinese, and lots of burgers.

My latest project is to learn Thai, but I've just started that. In addition, I dabble with various African and European cuisines, and of course, there is always good old American food! I bake for other people (I don't care for sweets as a general rule) can lots of jams,marmalades, relishes, and pickles. I have a real passion for vegetables, but am too much a carnivore to give up meat...though if I had to make a choice I'd rather do without the meat than do without the vegetables.

I was in the restaurant business most of my adult life, going from waitress to head waitress to manager in a foo-foo fancy restaurant (after the Japanese place) where the chef often hit me up for menu ideas...the menu changed every month, and he got tired of thinking up new things. We'd toss ideas around and get into arguments about what was feasible and what would sell, but we had fun and he was always good about giving me credit when he used my ideas or recipes.

Now I'm in business with my husband, and mostly just cook for us. When my cabinets got filled with all my spices, various grains, legumes, flours, rices etc., my sweet husband built me a whole pantry worth of shelves in the garage...which are now full...dunno what the heck we'll do now. :O The problem with multi-ethnic cooking is that you have to have SO MANY ingredients on hand!

I love this forum because very few of my friends even know how to cook, let alone have a passion for it, and I can see that many here do. I am also very impressed by how positive, encouraging and helpful all the posters are. With cooking, there is always more to learn and no matter how accomplished you are, there is always someone who can teach you something. And, no matter how experienced a cook or how inexperienced, burnt carrots are burnt carrots and cursing under your breath at the botched mess in a pan before you throw it out and make sandwiches for dinner is sometimes really therapeutic lol.

One of my biggest cooking problems is that I very rarely follow a recipe exactly...in fact, I generally use them as sort of an "outline" to what I end up doing. Or, I do a lot of just throwing things together because they sound good. So when someone asks me for a recipe, I'm at a loss. Also, we have a running joke, my husband and I, that if he really loves a dish I make, he'd better savor every bite as it will never taste exactly the same again! Lately, I have started trying to write down what I'm doing as I do it with mixed success.

Anyhow, nice to meet y'all!

I live in the Texas panhandle. I have been a member since 2003 and lurked a while before that.

We farm and ranch and have two children, DS is 29 and DD is 24, have a 3 1/2 year old and almost year old Grandsons.

Besides my two little Grandsons, I enjoy gardening, flowers and vegetables and can or freeze most of our vegetables, fruits, jellies, salsa and whatever else I can get my hands on. During harvest I fix the meals and take to the field. I stay pretty busy!

Many thanks for the good recipes and tips I get from this forum. I don't post alot, but I always check in.

I enjoy all your postings so much. It's really nice to find out a little more about each of you. I "migrated" to the cooking forum from the Rose Forum (I grow about 180 different roses - hence the name karenforroses.) I also enjoyed the kitchen forum when we redid our kitchen, and am hanging around the bathroom forum now that we're onto that redo.

I'm always impressed with the friendliness and sense of community in this forum. And I sure learn a lot from you folks!

My husband and I have been retired for almost 8 years, after 35 years each in education. I enjoy gardening, cooking and writing and my husband has taken up woodworking. I'm working hard with a great group of folks to try to establish a botanic garden in our region. We take care of our two granddaughters (ages 3 & 7) three days a week - a busy fun time we wouldn't miss for anything. We've done this since they were born, so we have a wonderful bond with the girls.

We live in Northern Michigan and have a small fruit orchard, enjoy the out-of-doors and traveling.

Ok, since I posted on Conversations side I guess I better introduce myself.

My name is Jen, I'm divorced with 2 teenage girls (13 & 15), and mostly a lurker. I generally post in the Rocky Mountain Gardening forum and once in a while a question on the Harvest forum. I found GW searching for info on dividing bunching onions for my mother (don't know why she thinks I know more than I do, but I'm not gonna correct her - at least I know where to look *grin*).

For the past 10 years I've been doing medical transcription editing, currently specializing in cardiology and I've also done orthopaedic and urology transcription. I worked for Starbucks for about 5 years before that.

I share a house with my best friends, do as much gardening as I can in a relatively small space, can when I can what I can, and do basic fix-its around the house. I don't get to cook much since that's my friend's favorite thing to do. he doesn't follow recipes much, and considers them to be "guidelines". Generally I get to do the special occasion/holiday meals.

My resolution this year was to try a new recipe every week since I have a ton of cookbooks I rarely use. It didn't work out so well so instead I decided to let the kids pick a recipe that they want to learn how to make. Every other weekend one picks the recipe, we shop for the ingredients on Friday and then make it on Saturday. I've made them each their own recipe book (just a fabric covered photo album) to keep the recipes in.

Thanks to everyone for sharing so many wonderful recipes and so many wonderful stories.

Hi Jen, a new recipe each week is my resolution too! Welcome to everyone new and I hope you all post often. There is no forum as good as this one in the entire world-wide-web!

Jen, this is my chance to say thanks for the information you posted on Conversations. Welcome to the Cooking Forum, and I love the idea of letting the kids pick a recipe and then making it.

If you lurk here much you know that I love to have my girls or my grandkids in my kitchen with me, it just makes life a little more perfect.

Annie

As you can see from my user name, I am Vicki. I live in Las Vegas, Nevada, with my DH of 13 years. I have 2 boys, both away from home now. Kiel is 22 and Kelly is 19. We have worked in party rentals for 13.5 years. I am originally from South Dakota and then Iowa. I have lived in the Las Vegas area for going on 28 years.

I have always enjoyed cooking. My DH was never really into cooking, until we moved into our most recent home, which actually has a kitchen that we can both be in at the same time. Now, we often cook together and he "allows" me to teach him. He wants to know full explanations as to why things are done a certain way. And he seems to think that we need to have all the best things in the kitchen now. Shun knives are his weakness. :) I am a self taught cook. My mom didn't have the time or desire to teach us to cook.

I love this forum and fully admit that I try a good portion of the recipes here. When I am asked where I got the recipe, I proudly say, "from (insert name) on the Cooking Forum". Thank you everyone who is willing to share their recipes. I have often wondered...what would a potluck with everyone here be like? Wouldn't that be fun?

I started out on GW at the Kitchen Table many years ago, under a different name. I wandered off for awhile, came back, then re-registered about a year and a half ago.

Hmmm, I've been hanging out here for over a year & don't think I've ever introduced myself. Found my way over to cooking by way of Kitchens & Appliances. I stumbled into Kitchens in 2005 when we were just starting to plan a massive renovation. I think that I must have looked in on nearly every forum here & found something valuable in each of them. I owe my wonderful kitchen (and the money left over for food) to the people on the Kitchen & Appliances forum.

I'm in NY, about an hour north of NYC. Married, with 1 child. Prior to our son's arrival we spent a lot of time on two wheels. We're both rabid about British motorcycles & spent a lot of time riding, working on, talking about, sourcing parts for, cursing, discussing, daydreaming about or cleaning bits of them. These days we're lucky to get a few rides in a year. And I'd much rather ride them than work on them.

We also have a leopard gecko, a psychotic dustbunny disguised as a cat & an extremely goofy rescued Rottweiler. My better half & I both work full time (and beyond) and when not working, or wrangling the little guy, I'm cooking. I'm Italian, from a very Italian (yes, literally off the boat) household but will cook anything that I can get a recipe for. And yes, I need a recipe for pretty much everything.

In my nonexistant spare time I like to read (voraciously) or work with stained glass. I like to garden but seem to have a black thumb. I have great luck with weeds, though. And while my lovingly tended plants all wither or refuse to yeild any fruit the volunteers that spring up in cracks in the masonry or get deposited by the birds seem to thrive. Hence my user name.

Nina