Please allow me to introduce myself:

Food, puzzles, family, friends, music, dance...these are a few of my favorite things (not necessarily in that order!). Cooking has always been a large part of who I am. Besides the obvious that I love, love, LOVE food, I adore gathering people around a table for a meal - whether it's an egg casserole and simple salad for brunch, or an Italian spread for dinner. It's during these times that make me happiest - feeding the tummies and souls of my nearest and dearest. It isn't always about the food - sometimes it's just the company and the conversation over well made Manhattans, Palomas, or Negronis with a cheese plate or guac and chips and a great soundtrack playing over the speakers. When I cook, I almost always have music playing in the background, and sometimes break out into spontaneous dance moves. Drop a good beat and I am down...as long as I'm not cooking risotto...then it'll just be a hip sway (if you know, you know...and if you don't...keep coming back here and you will find out).

 

So I've covered food, family, friends, music and dance. Where do the puzzles come in? I'm pretty sure my love of jigsaw puzzles has helped feed my joy of cooking. Looking for recipes, putting them together, sometimes getting them wrong, and the satisfaction with getting them right. I take a lot of time to find the "best" recipes, which means I trial a LOT of different recipes before I settle on the "perfect" banana bread...or pizza dough...or bolognese...or chicken and dumplings. Come along with me as I succeed at some and fail at others. I'm not a professional or trained chef and I certainly don't claim to be. I just really love to cook.

 

Oh, and what's a "Lolli" (lah-lee), you ask? It's a nightly tradition around our dinner table. Each person gets to say what their Lolli of the Day was...it's the sweet part, like a lollipop. There's also a whole song that goes along with it, but that's for another day...
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