Ridin' the Range Once More!

It took my entering a pie contest this year to get me back into the kitchen, cooking and baking again.  Winning a frist place ribbon wasn't what got me back - it was just my remembering how much I love baking and cooking; but winning was good too!  After I closed down my B&B about 4 years ago, I just didn't have the inspiration necessary, I guess.  Now I'm looking forward to sharing my culinary efforts (and occasional failures - let's call them, "Learning Experiences") with you.

My being a heterosexual, bachelor man it might surprise you that I have such interests.  But, as I see it, it's a matter of survival skills!  If I want to eat a good meal I have to make it!  I can't afford a personal chef and don't want to eat out all the time! (Even if I could afford to do that!)

I never had the professional training or schooling in a culinary academy.  But I've learned quite a bit hanging around those who have had that training.  I worked for a carterer in Chicago and had a close friend who owned a five star restaurant there as well.  But, like so many other skills in life, I read books and did "Hands-on" work.  Gee, isn't that what Julia Child did for the most part?  Don't get me wrong - I'm no Julia Child! But I try.  I learned a long time ago, "The only difference between a professional and an amateur is that one gets paid for what they do"!

When I find a recipe that I like, I rework it to make it into my own.  The Bible tells us that there is nothing new under the sun!  I have a hoard of cookbooks published and edited by world renown chefs and food critics; and it is amazing how many recipes repeat in those books under different authors!

So look for some of my ideas, recipes, hints, etc. in future postings.  They may not have anything to do with Laura's "Sweet Memories", my shop, but they will have something to do with me!
Till then - "Bon Appetite!" & "Giddap!"

"The way to success and a broad, beautiful outlook on life more often than not leads over obstacles and up a stiff climb before we reach the hilltop."
Laura Ingalls Wilder