I have a copy of, "the NEW Fannie Farmer-Boston Cooking-School COOK BOOK", 1953. My father, in his retirement, took on the care of several Summer homes in Southern Maine. He would check on them during the winter, board up windows against storms, uncover rose gardens when the time was right, deal with emergencies...that kind of thing. During the Summer, when people were in residence, he was sort of a general, all around handyman. His largest client was old money...there was a beach named after the family, a road named after the family, and a huge home, loaded with antiques that had been the original furnishings. An elderly Black woman came up every summer from South Carolina to be their cook for the season. Little bittie thing, set in her ways and stubborn as heck, but since she'd been cooking for the family for decades, she knew what they liked and how to manage them. I had been separated from my father at age 5, and when I found him again in my early 30's, I went out to stay with him and my stepmother for a year to get to know them. He took me down to meet Marguerite. She was a kick, and we got along...several years later, when she knew that she wouldn't be able to make it up again the next season (or ever), she gave my father her Fannie Farmer for me. It still has a bunch of book marks in it, some with shopping lists, some with her name, some with cryptic notes I can't decipher, all in the same, slanted hand. I actually use the book quite a bit, but I don't disturb the bookmarks. I sometimes puzzle over the marked pages, wondering which recipe she had marked... I also have my mother's copy of "The Complete American-Jewish Cookbook",1952. It has a separate section of Passover recipes. There are no pork recipes, naturally. Generally, the cookies and bread recipes are good. As for unique...I have an Ethiopian cookbook...the only one I've been able to find. "Exotic Ethiopian Cooking-Society, Culture, Hospitality, & Traditions. I've only made a couple of dishes out of it. I love Ethiopian food, and when I found out how much Nit'ir Qibe (purified herb & spice butter) is used in most of the dishes I love, I realized why I love them. For example, in dishes made from 1 pound of ground beef, it is not unusual that they contain a cup of butter. A typical lentil dish pairs 2 cups of lentils with 2 cups of butter. No wonder I love it!

Oh yes! Please put me in the drawing. My husband is a Ward/June/Beave and Wally fan (he's 63 this year, I think he harkens back to a simpler time). Me- I just really like cooking the recipes (not the canning ones though). I have 2 old favorite cookbooks. One is from 1941-called "America's Cookbook. (It says on the cover- "The cover is washable"), compiled by the New York Herald Tribune Home Institute. It is, quite honestly as good if not better, (and at over 970 pages, as extensive), as both of my "Joy of Cooking"s. There is nothing not covered including wines and cocktails, foreign recipes, table setting and service, the well equiped kitchen and even foreign words every cook should know... (Knackebrod=whole rye, hard, flat bread, or Soubise=flavored with onion.) But the recipes are just plain wonderful (Rhubarb Butterscotch Pie, Apple Cornflake Pudding, Lentil Curry, Corn & Sausage Fritters, Shrimp Stuffed Eggplant, Martha Washington's Potato Rolls and of course what would any good cookbook be without a recipe for Braised Opposum?) My other old cookbook that I love and still cook from is "The Modernistic Recipe-Menu Book of The DeBoth Homemakers Cooking Schools of Chicago and New York", published 1920. (Apricot Cheese Turnovers, Banana Puffs in Custard Cups, Cooked Salad Dressings, Bird's Nest Soup made with Irish Moss-I haven't made that one..., Graham Flour Muffins etc.) So please put me in the mix. Nice of you to do this. Rebecca

Hi Squirrel~ Gorgeous inspiration photos. That green wall with the fireplace is wonderful! Ree~ I just now saw your note to me above. Thanks so much for the compliment (and your dh's) on our master bath. So sweet. Yes, our tile was delivered on Wednesday afternoon. They were not able to find the rhomboid (diamond) shape 1x2 inch tile, so I got the 1 inch square tiles. I LOVE the 1 inch tiles. I also love the 4 inch tiles. I am not loving the 8 x 16 "bricks" that were going to tile the back wall around the windows, and I am also not loving the 16x16 inch tiles. I laid some out yesterday evening before dark, to see how the bathroom would look. It's not a look I'd have chosen. I didn't see the larger tiles first, and didn't realize they would have crazy huge veining. It would be pretty in a slab on a countertop, but I'm not sure I want it on our master bath floor. :o( We were gone today, so I'll go play around with the tiles again tomorrow morning, and hope against hope that it looks better when I see it again. I'm hoping it's just so shocking because that room has been coated with plain subflooring (brown) and then drywall dust everywhere. LOL! So perhaps any floor would look strange to me at this point. Oh, I'm hoping I can like my tile. I'm not sure what I'll do if I'm hating it tomorrow. Your house is lovely Ree. I enjoyed seeing your photo "tour". I will check out my fan deck from BM tomorrow and see what your buff color looks like on that. I'm needing to choose paint colors soon, and now that I've flubbed up on my master tiles, I'm feeling really uncertain in the paint dept. On a happy note, I LOVE the rest of the tile I ordered. The main flooring in the house is a lovely neutral stone, and the kids baths are all quite lovely and pale. They will go with any decor, which is a good thing. So at least I've only potentially ruined one room in the house. LOL! ;o)

Considering that world leaders go to Mayo when they need care, the distinction is obvious. But I'm sure you know that. There's another option. If they really wanted to see the kids more often, they could move too! I wouldn't let that be a blackmail item. It's obviously a consideration but your marriage and family are your priority I would hope. Sometimes we do what we don't want to for the good of the family. Rochester is a surprisingly "middle class" area IMO. There's no movie stars hanging around too often (they tend to sneak in and out of the Mayo!) and Bill Gates doesn't have a summer home there. They are very dependant upon Mayo of course. I like the area. OK, I'm a bit biased, being Minnesota born and raised and no desire to leave. But then again, liking the area is one of the reasons I want to stay. I like the change of seasons. The car issue in winter is really not such a big deal since many people garage their vehicles but a good set of jumper cables is still treasured. With so much more plastic in cars today, rust is less of an issue and that probably isn't really a consideration of yours anyway. And there's plenty of car washes around. Quality food is available since there's a lot of farming in the area. What more can I say? Before you come to the area I'd suggest you get a hold of the Chamber of Commerce or something or look up some info on Rochester on the net. Then you could check out some of the points of interest that interest you. You could also get a feel for how well the area accommodates your family's interests. Rochester is about 90 miles from the Twin Cities. It has "small town" local television if that's a concern. Of course cable and satellite open that up. If it's of interest to you, it's designated television market area #154 (includes Rochester, MN, Mason City, IA and Austin, MN) with 144,700 TV households. The Twin Cities for comparison is #15 and Indianapolis is #25. I don't go to Rochester very often but did work there a few days about a year ago so I stayed over. Was doing a lot of driving around. Roads are good. Services, stores and conveniences are good. Let's face it, there's great people, good people, bad people and jerks just like everywhere else. It's not like a big metropolitan area and that's good in some ways and bad in others and whether that's a pro or a con is dependant upon your priorities. I can't speak to the Rochester schools specifically but can say that the Minnesota schools are always rated among the highest in the country. Education is a high priority in this state and it shows. I would make one suggestion. Sit down as a family and make a two lists. 1) What do we LIKE about where we are? and 2) What do we DISLIKE about the area? Think it through and it should give you some ideas on what to check out when you're researching and in the area. Good luck in your decision. Here is a link that might be useful: This could get you started...