You guys rock.

I've been waiting for this post.

How wonderful that you were able to get together with Sherry. What great friends all of you are.

FOAS is so right. You guys do rock.

~Ann

Sounds like you all had the best of times and what a lovely house too!

so fun to see and read this, thanks for posting !!!

What a wonderful, thoughtful group you are!!

I too wondered if we were going to get to see it all. Glad that we are! Good to see everyone and that a good time was had by all.

It's so good to see you all together again! And a lovely setting and house to put the whipped cream on the cake. Hoping we will see more pics of the group?

Thanks for posting this, Annie!
Teresa

Jealous, jealous, jealous. Especially since I am relocating to a place quite near there. But in the meantime, I am in PA doing the same thing as Sherry, packing up the house. I have been utilizing CF inspiration though, Annie I made your ginger peach pie on Sunday and this morning for breakfast I made the Ina Garten blueberry muffin recipe you posted last year. I had some friends in from New York to help me pack up a trailer's worth of stuff from my basement.

I really missed seeing Sherry Jessica and Cathy and Nancy and you. So near and yet so far. It has been way too long!! I can't believe what a nice place you had and I'm sure the weather was great too. I wish I had more time to enjoy MI now that I am living there, but I have been so busy and carting myself back to PA whenever I get a break. Meeting with a realtor this afternoon to put my PA house up for sale. Very sad about that. But MI isn't exactly chopped liver so hopefully next time there is a CF get together in MI I can make it! Fun, fun, fun! Nothing better than a CF get together!

Looks like y'all had a great time. What a wonderful thing to do.

Sally

What wonderful friends you are! I'm sure Sherry appreciated your visit, gifts and help. And I'm sure all that luscious food was appreciated by all.

Madonna

I don't visit here as often as I once did, but I recognized all the names from when I was a regular. What a wonderful group of friends. Heartwarming to see the pics and tantalizing to see and hear about the food!

Ellen, Nancy, Cathy, Jessy, Annie...you guys truly do rock. It was wonderful seeing you all again, and I will never, ever let 8 years go by before seeing you next time. You were my rock, and my helpers, and my confidantes, and my true, true friends. What fun we had talking happy times and sad times. Thank you for your love, strength, compassion and most of all...your fabulous cooking skills. (hee hee)

Oh, it all looks like so much fun! Old friends can have the BEST times--you don't have to waste time getting to know each other, you can just start up from where you left off. Glad it all worked out and that you had some good eatin', too!

p.s. It's great, for the rest of us, to see some dear old familiar faces again, too. Come on back!

Sue

How cool you guys are

Checking in. It was so wonderful to see my forum peeps/sisters. I'm so sorry others couldn't make it. Like mtnester said, we just picked up where we left off. Yes, I'll try to make it back here.

Thank you Annie for starting the thread and posting all the pictures of food and gifts. You brought so much - home grown eggs AND chickens (turned into chicken salad the next day!). And thanks to Nancy for the pasta dish, major yum!

I think Ellen has more pictures on her phone, maybe they got to Annie.

Sherry, I'm glad we could help you. I wish I was closer so I could come back more often, there is still so much more to do. Email me anytime!

One item I wanted to mention that Ellen brought (I think?) - since I'm carb free, I'm getting this for zucchini 'pasta' - a 'Veggetti' - makes ribbons! Of course because of the shape, size and first letter I called it something else.....I bet the boys are going 'ouch'.

http://buyveggetti.com/Default.asp?bhcp=1

For those who are interested in the eggplant dish: it was demolished within ten minutes. Everyone said this was a recipe they would pass on, as it reads. It really doesn't sound appetizing. The fact that I had five women going OMG! says volumes. Don't pass up on this one.

Fariba's Eggplant dish (my friend)

1 jar Trader Joes julienned sun dried tomatoes, drained
1 large bunch mint, chopped. Use a lot. Really.
6 - 8 oz crumbled feta cheese
I can 'fried eggplant' (see link)

Layer the items in a dish, eggplant on the bottom, mint on top. Devour.

https://www.google.com/search?q=sadaf+eggplant+fried&ie=utf-8&oe=utf-8&aq=t&rls=org.mozilla:en-US:official&client=firefox-a&channel=sb

I'm sure I'll add more as I think of things, my mind is still mush.

Waaah. I almost made it to this gathering but let my Single Lady's budget stop me. How dumb. Looks like so much fun, almost as if you are seesters (okay, what's the joke?).

Look how skinny Jessy is! She used to have grapefruits but now she only has peaches. Lookin' good, EJ.

Sherry, so glad you had this wonderful time with good friends. Too bad we never got together in Philadelphia but your schedule seemed jammed packed. You all are the best.

OK, here's the photo taken by the random stranger, who did not steal our camera in spite of urging by certain members. Ahem. You know who you are. (grin)

{{gwi:1557661}}

From left to right is Ellen, Annie, Sherry, Jessica, Cathy, Nancy.

Sherry, you're right, we can't let 8 years go by before we do this again!

Pam, I'm so sorry I didn't get to meet you, maybe next time.

Annie

This post was edited by annie1992 on Wed, Aug 20, 14 at 20:39

I'm so sorry to read about Sherry's husband. Roger was such a sweet easy going guy when we raided their house for canning camp. So glad some forum friends got to spend time with her.

Becky

Wish I could have been there, but my vacay starts next week. I do plan to visit Michigan in the next two years - it's on my bucket list. Looks like you had a great time, and how fabulous to have a house on a lake. Which lake was it?

I was very saddened also when I heard about Roger on the other side, even though I've never met him. I know how generous Sherry is, and so he must have been just as wonderful.

Lars

Annie, thanks for posting this. I haven't even uploaded my pic's from my camera yet. I had a wonderful time, loved seeing everyone!

The 'seester' name came about because we all have so much in common. Sherry and I have so much in common that sometimes I really feel she is a true relative.

The lake was Pleasant Lake and very close to Sherry's. While we were wading, there were so many little tiny minnows, they were tickling my feet. Someone said that they were giving us a pedicure. Guess I needed one!

I'll post more pictures if they cover anything else.... Like Jessy and her bottle....

Nancy

LOL, Nancy, believe it or not I refrained from taking that picture of Jessica with her bottle. I was the first one up the days that I was there, so I'd slip upstairs and start the coffee. First morning, there was Jessica, zonked on the couch with a vodka bottle sitting on the end of the pillows, half empty. It looked like a college party, LOL, and I thought of blackmail pictures but then I realized that I couldn't blackmail Jessica because she wouldn't care about the picture, LOL.

Lars, I do hope you make it to Michigan, but don't come in the winter, you will freeze. October is beautiful with the colors changing on the hardwoods, and June is usually pretty nice. From November to March you'd be pretty cold...

Annie

We ate some great meals as you can imagine but do know that those were before and after hours of working each day getting Sherry packed up.

Some things that amazed me about the CF eBuddies is:
As mentioned, we picked up where we last left off and it felt like just yesterday.
Traveling thousands of miles to support another.
Sherry had no reservations about us going through her personal paper files (sorting out keepers and throw aways).
Good ideas were shared, accepted, and implemented.
A CF DH (Elery) pitching in with his skills.
We worked in the 2 butt kitchen at the rental smoothly to produce some impressive meals.
We talked into the wee hours but stayed on task during the day.
6 women shared 2 small bathrooms with no issues.

I know in-tact teams that don't function this well.

Wow, I too am jealous, jealous, jealous!

Another great time with CF friends, I truly wish I could have been there with you all.

Glad that everyone had fun, ate (extremely) well and was able to give our dear friend Sherry a hand in moving into the next chapter of her life. I know how difficult the past few months have been for her.

Next get together....I am all over that one, no matter what! LOL

Linda

Sweet of you Grandma

MP, Now who are you??
Oh yeah, one of the grands that we talked about hours and hours! I feel like I know you and I expect hugs when we meet.

XXOOXX

Now you really have to have a do-over, although for a happier reason. I NEED to be there.

I agree, dedtired, you DO need to be there!

Monkey, I'm assuming you are/were at your Dad's shop today with your brother, I know it was your Mom's first night back to work. I'll see you this weekend at Maci's birthday party. And, when you meet her, you should definitely hug Mustangs, she'll love your kitten and I'm sure she'll love you too.

Cathy is right, we did get a lot done, it wasn't all fun, but even that was good with all the friends together. As you all know, I completely lack the decorating gene and am not good at organizing. I wasn't comfortable deciding what to keep and what to toss when it comes to another person's belongings, so I concentrated on small repair jobs, I fixed one towel rack and reattached another to the wall, I fixed a knob on the false front of a drawer that we couldn't get to, I tried to change a burned out bulb over the tub, but was afraid to break her fixture. I put table linens in a box as directed, but only packed as directed, LOL. My idea of packing up a kitchen is to write "kitchen" on a box and start putting stuff in it. It's probably better to put all like items together. (grin) I don't do that, though, so we all did what our skill set and personality allowed us to do.

I could only stay two days, with everything that was going on, so Elery and I went back on Tuesday and moved some furniture, he figured out how to get to that blasted light bulb, we dropped off an ionic air cleaner for the camper and I climbed the ladder to change the direction of the fan blades on the ceiling fan.

It was all good, though, because we were with good friends and had good company to talk with and lean on. And Cathy even got to stay an extra day because there were thunderstorms so severe that her flight out of Kalamazoo was cancelled. I guess she just was supposed to stay here, LOL.

Annie

This post was edited by annie1992 on Thu, Aug 21, 14 at 23:32

I was so glad to be able to be a part of this incredible group of women. Just call us the Sisterhood of the Traveling Cooks! This retreat was a remarkable opportunity to bond and support our dear friend.

Along the way I was reminded how much I have gained in the relationships made here on the CF. Let me reiterate, it's been quite awhile since we' last gathered, but that wasn't an obstacle. We packed and organized giving Sherry a head start on her move. Annie's enormous skill set never ceases to amaze me and Cathy's superior organizational and decorating skills made the tasks easier. Nancy came armed with delicious Michigan treats, Annie brought us farm to table foods and Jessy introduced us to those amazing dips!
It just goes to show you that with enough wine,limoncello and vodka anything can be done!

I looked at the picture of all of us...and of course, I would have to be putting my arms around the littlest munchkins in the group so that I looked like an Amazon woman (although I am only 5'7") The worst part of the picture was...get ready...Jessy may have peaches but look at my watermelons. Disgusting. I really need to do something about that.

Sherry, your watermelons are just fine, LOL.

I was just thinking "go figure, the only picture of all of us and I was wearing the huge t-shirt from Burman Coffee and yoga capris, because I had to drive home after breakfast. You gotta be comfortable when you're driving a Jeep Wrangler for 3 hours!

Annie

I love when get-togethers happen to be able to put pictures to names!

It's so good to see you all, and I miss seeing the posts of everyone who used to be here.

The support of the CF is amazing!

Sherry, Annie, at least you didn't make a face like someone pooted.
Cathy

What an amazing group of women. So sorry for your loss Sherry.

Sue

What a wonderful show of support and friendship! You guys are great.

Awwww...so nice to see this. You all look great. EIGHT years???? Really? Wow. (I miss you guys!)

This post was edited by katiec on Wed, Aug 27, 14 at 0:30

Yes, Katie, it's been 8 years since I picked you up at the Grand Rapids airport so we could give that "Canning Camp" instruction/fun! And we knew each other immediately, even having never seen a picture of each other.

Over 9 years since the Forum gave me my very first birthday party, for my 50th birthday. We've made some good friends here, that's for sure.

Annie

"A face like someone pooted". I cracked up at that. I hate looking at pics of myself. Sherry, you and I could have been the Amazon women together. What a bunch of shorties! I am 5'6" -- that's high, not wide.

So glad that I came to the CF today and saw this post. I miss you all and even more I miss your cooking! You all look great!

Karen, we missed you too!
Pam, LOL, in the midwest I felt like a midget in the land of giants. Everywhere we went, most folks were taller than our bunch! LOL

I came back too, and saw this. So glad I did. Sherry, I wish I could have helped too. I have never even been to Michigan but I miss all of you!

Ellen, welcome to my world, where EVERYONE is taller than me. Even you. (grin)

Karen, we all missed you, I would love to see you again, and Pam, one of these days we'll meet up, I'm sure. And you'll be taller than me too...

CC, that would have been great fun to meet you too. Maybe on my next trip out to visit the California boys, we'll be driving that one, I'm betting. No way would Elery leave his "favorite girl", Molly!

Annie

GEE! Sherry is on of the CF friends that I had met -- for dinner in Durham years ago! So sad to hear you lost your fellow, I remember a lovely evening of chatter and good food.

Susie

I missed this post. It was during the several weeks I was computer-less.

I was very sorry when I saw sweet Roger had passed. Always enjoyed stories that included him.

You girls are a riot! Every one of you look great To tell the truth, you're looking better and better.