I Bet You Didn't Know...

Me and My dad...Wisconsin 1966

I am so humbled when I open up my blog stats and see how many people pop their heads in.  Now I'm not like Parsley, Sage and Sweet (my amazing blogging friend Lisa),  or you know, Martha, but that's okay.  I don't mind a small crowd, it's a little more intimate.  I like to respond to comments and check out your blog if you link your name. That's how I have found a few new friends.  But how about some things about me, that you probably don't know.  Nothing too personal!  I promise!

I am the baby of my family.  And, I completely fit the spoiled kid thing.  I am embarrassed about some of my antics in my youth.  The oldest sibling is 11 years older than I, and the closest to me is 6 years older.  So yes, we're Catholic.  I was raised like an only child, as I was still in grade school when everyone was gone.  I loved that time at home, I had great individual experiences with my parents.  My dad and I built a sauna in our basement out of an old walk in meat cooler.  Really.  It was awesome, lined in cedar with a glass door.  You would toss water on the coals and sweat like a hooker in church.  My mom would take me to the theater and introduced me to writers and poets.  We even spent New Year's Eve in London one year.  She taught me to sew and bake, and today, I sew and bake, and like my mom, I am a playwright.  My first play to be produced in July! (mark off that New Year's Resolution!)

Sookie the one-eyed Bichon

I have a one eyed dog named Sookie. Named for my favorite character in the Gilmore Girls.  Now she's totally famous (Melissa McCarthy), but I was a fan when she was eating ramen noodles.  Sookie is one hilarious animal.  Our Golden Daisy and Sookie were buddies until the end.  If you haven't read Ode To Dog, grab a kleenex and head over.  It is one of my favorite blogs.  It was written from the bottom of my broken heart.

Daisy, the best dog in the world

Truth

I grew up in Iowa and now live in Tennessee.  I have a sign in my house that says "I'm not from the South, but I got here as fast as I could".  Truer words have not been spoken.  I love the South.  The food, the climate, the people, the history.  But I also love Iowa, more and more as I am away.  I love going home and walking the trails and seeing the flowers and weeds I grew up with in our woods.  The birds are familiar the accents are comforting.  I love endless miles of cornfields and the hollow, sad sound of a train horn in the country.  I have great memories of feeding calves, playing in haylofts, ice skating on the back water of the Mississippi, walking the bridge over the river from Iowa to Illinois.  A great childhood.  I hope my kids can feel that same nostalgia for Tennessee one day.

I love the Pops.  Yes, the music genre.  I listen to it on XM,  I love Eric Kunzel and Arthur Fiedler.  Eric Kunzel was with the Cincinnati Pops and his CDs have great themes like baseball, movie soundtracks, westerns etc.  He took everyday songs and made them Pops!  Arthur Fiedler has been gone a long time.  He lived next door to my cousins in Brookline, Mass.  We went over and knocked on the door one day and got a tour of his fire hat collection and free tickets to the Boston Symphony Pops.  We also got dessert and met the master after the show.  We felt pretty important!  I have no musical talent.  But I will listen to just about anything.  Movie soundtracks are a weakness of mine, and I watch the movie Invincible over and over because the music is my childhood.  Mark Wahlberg isn't terrible either!  Pops, country, 70's on 7.  No, however to metal, hip hop or anything with really bad words.  I used my son's iPod one day was alarmed at what I heard.  Apparently I bought it all.  Needless to say I no longer share my iTunes password.

I love salad.  Lettuce, vinegar and oil, salt and pepper.  I eat it virtually every day of my life.  I will occasionally eat one of those fancy composed salads, but I just don't need all that hoopla. Please, never serve it chilled, or before dinner.  I like it room temperature and after I have eaten my main meal.  And don't you dare call anything with Jello in it, a salad.  Blasphemy!

I love anything hot and spicy and hate anything made with cream cheese unless I am dipping a cracker in it.  I love pizza but not calzones, I love beer but not Guinness.  I love wine, but nothing sweet.  I prefer to eat my meat without sauce and don't make or eat casseroles of any kind.  I like my food separate and preferably not touching unless it's cottage cheese, hamburger and Heinz 57, then mix 'em up please!  I ran away when I was little because my mom put blue cheese in the salad, and now I order this pricey blue from Maytag, Iowa.

I blog because I love to write and talk, and now that there's no one around here, it feels good to get it out.  I am nostalgic, no doubt.  My most popular blog is Minny's Chocolate Pie.  And my favorite is Where I Come From.  There is no food, no recipes, but many people have Googled the town  or my name and we have connected via email and Facebook.  I have expanded my family tenfold.  I even met a man whose grandfather was my great grandfather's brother.  Amazing.  My adventures in the kitchen continue.  Lots of cookies, hopefully many travels and family events.  Thanks for coming along.  I am thrilled to have the company!