I’m Cheryl.  I live in San Diego with my wonderful husband Tony and our black lab, Lulu (named after my Gramma Lulu, who, btw, was my first cooking inspiration).  Our fabulous kids are grown and living in other parts of the country (sniff…sniff).  I have a rewarding and inspiring part time job that I love, as outreach coordinator for a domestic abuse program at a large social services agency.

So I decided to start a blog.  Why? I love to cook and I love to eat. (And given the facts that we are empty nesters and I only work part time, I have some time on my hands!)   I’ve recently discovered “food porn”.  I really like to take photographs of the food I cook and eat, then post them on Facebook.  You can blame my coworkers at the above-mentioned social services agency for this attempt at blogging.  They’re my biggest fans. They rave about whatever I bring to our staff potlucks.  They follow me on FB and make comments like, “Yummy”, “Yes, please”, “Yum”, “Oh my heavens Cheryl”, “Yummers” , “Looks delicious” and “Can you bring those over right now?”.

I’m not a fancy gourmet cook.  I’m all about feel good, homestyle, uncomplicated food.  I’m a recipe cook.  I don’t often create my own recipes.  I follow them, but I’ll often look at two or three and take the best from each.  I collect cookbooks, clip recipes from the newspaper, buy cooking magazines when I’m standing in the checkout lane, search recipes online and follow a few blogs.  I guess you could say it’s a bit of an obsession.  If I live to be 100 and cook something new every day, I won’t get through all the recipes I’ve collected.  I’ve had a subscription to Bon Appétit magazine since 1991 and still have every single issue. I credit this subscription, given to me as a birthday present from my friend Linda, to nurturing my cooking fondness and prowess.  My favorite day of the month is still when that new issue of BA arrives!

I can lose myself in my cooking.  It’s my escape, my therapy and my passion.  I love nothing more than when I have a free weekend and can spend time in the kitchen, cooking and baking.  I love to cook for other people…whether it’s dinner for Tony and me, or a dinner party for friends, Passover for family or a dish for our monthly staff potluck at work.  To me, it’s just so immensely rewarding and satisfying to know that someone’s enjoying something I’ve created.

So I hope I can pass some of this passion on to you.  Please think of this blog as your first step.  I’ve done some of the research for you.  I’ve combed all those resources to find good recipes. I’ll make them and then share the best of them with you.  Enjoy!