Newbie from Wisconsin!

1DomesticGoddess wrote:Hello everyone, I'm Cindi, I'm 61, married 39 years, have 3 grown daughters, and 1 granddaughter (who I absolutely adore). I enjoy cooking, baking, collecting cookbooks, sharing recipes with others, reading about the paranormal, and spending time with my family. I look forward to being a member of this forum, and getting to know others as well.

bethk wrote:Welcome, Cindi! I'm Beth ~ I live in The Villages, Florida (a retirement community), transplanted from northwest Ohio.  

How's your weather in Wisconsin this time of the year?  This is the hottest summer I've experienced in Florida since we moved here in 2012, although yesterday and today we are getting a reprieve from the high 90's and it's been a balmy 85° with a breeze most of the day ~ I was tempted to open the doors but decided I didn't want to cut off the a/c quite yet.  LOL

UNCLE JIMMY wrote:Hi Cindy...It's Embryodad from NCT forum.  Great to see you here.  This is a nice small friendly / quiet / forum.  As you can see, there is nothing formal here.  We talk about many things, and intertwine them even in What's Cooking Today Thread (s).

Feel free to just jump in anywhere, and looking forward to seeing some of your recipes.
Take Care..... God Bless!

"Jimmy"

Crybaby wrote:Hi Cindi, and welcome to Cooking Friends.  It's really nice to see a new member join us.

I've been cooking since I was a young girl, as my mom went back to work when I started school, but am just sticking my toe into the baking world, with Beth helping most of the way!  

Love that you collect cookbooks.  Do you have a favorite or two?

Again, welcome to this forum.  It's a very nice place to be and I hope you like it here as much as the rest of us do.

NormM wrote:Hi Cindi.  Welcome.  I am a retired school teacher.

1DomesticGoddess wrote:I too, started cooking at a young age (about 10), but I only cooked when no one was around, as my mother wouldn't allow my sisters and I in the kitchen when she/herself was cooking.

1DomesticGoddess wrote:Michelle, regarding the cookbooks, my 3 favorite cookbooks which I'll always treasure are...

1973 Betty Crocker's Cookbook

1976 A Campbell Cookbook Cooking with Soup

1979 Pillsbury Kitchens' Cookbook

Crybaby wrote:

1DomesticGoddess wrote:I too, started cooking at a young age (about 10), but I only cooked when no one was around, as my mother wouldn't allow my sisters and I in the kitchen when she/herself was cooking.

That's really cute -- did she know you were experimenting in there?
No, she did not! I don't think she ever suspected!

I started out helping my mom in the kitchen and then, around the age of 8, I began to "start" dinner for her so some stuff would be done when she got home from work, about 5:30 p.m.  By then, we were what is now referred to as latchkey kids, I guess, but we actually listened to the rules in place for us when we came home, including finishing our homework.  At first, I'd do things like chop onions or celery, and after a while, she'd trust me to season a roast and begin browning it in the oven!  I used to be sooo proud of myself back then. You should be proud of yourself, Michelle. That's quite an accomplishment at such a young age! 

My father used to buy us each magazines (I had an older sister and brother but there are only 3 years between oldest and youngest) and I'd always opt for the cooking magazines.  I think that helped me develop a real love of cooking and food, too.  My dad cooked too -- short order type stuff most of the time, but also meatloaf and the occasional roast.  He was a decent cook but not as good as my born-in-Louisiana mom, that's for sure.  But he sure enjoyed good food.  When I started cooking, he'd run all over town to get me the "best" Italian sausage and the best imported cheeses (when I first made lasagna, something my French Creole-cooking mom never made).  He definitely helped my fledgling efforts taste a lot better than they probably deserved at the time. Often wish he was still alive so he could see what a good cook I am now (he died in 1979 at 61) -- Michelle, I'm so sorry to hear your father is no longer here! I often wonder what I'd cook for him if it could only be one meal. Anyone else ever do that?

1DomesticGoddess wrote:Michelle, regarding the cookbooks, my 3 favorite cookbooks which I'll always treasure are...

1973 Betty Crocker's Cookbook

1976 A Campbell Cookbook Cooking with Soup

1979 Pillsbury Kitchens' Cookbook

Sticking with the oldies but goodies, I see, Cindi!  Have to say I'm not familiar with any of those, though I've heard of two of them.  I only have one cookbook that my mom had (she didn't have but a couple) and it's an old Better Homes & Gardens cookbook from the war years, which followed the depression  -- there are recipes in there using ingredients that weren't plentiful, like sugar and butter.  It's the only cookbook I ever saw her looking at...

NormM wrote:The only cookbook my mom ever had was bought the year after I was born. It was a Watkins cookbook. Watkins used to sell herbs and spices door-to-door like the Fuller Brush Man. I never knew of a recipe from the cookbook that she used but it was twice as big as it should be because it was stuffed full of recipes she got from friends or cut out of magazines.

DomesticGoddess wrote:Michelle, I don't think my mother never had or used a cookbook. If she did, I never saw it. When I was in high school, I had purchased the 1973 Betty Crocker's Cookbook for my mother for Mother's Day. When I was a young bride, I purchased the same cookbook (but in paper back). It was actually my very first cookbook, and I got a lot of use out of it. Years later, my oldest daughter helped me order the same cookbook (the hard cover back) cookbook online on e-bay. Needless to say, it was also the most expensive cookbook I own, but I'll always treasure that cookbook. My oldest daughter herself, ordered the same cookbook online. Not that she'd ever use it, as she doesn't care to cook, but I think she ordered it for sentimental reasons.

Crybaby wrote:Do you know what ever became of your mom's copy?

Crybaby wrote:My mom was a very good cook but cooked food indigenous to Louisiana.  She told me when she first married my father, she looked up recipes for "Yankee" food she could make for him -- one meal she remembered making was a "New England Boiled Dinner."  One night, she said "the hell with it" and made a local Louisiana dish (I think she made boulettes, little meatballs made in brown gravy).  She said he went wild and said, "Mary, I didn't know you could cook like this," and she told him what she'd been doing in an effort to please him.  Needless to say, no more "Yankee" dinners for him!

DomesticGoddess wrote:Michelle, do you by chance have the recipe for those meatballs made in brown gravy?

Bugster2 wrote:Hi Cindi, welcome to the forum. I'm Bugster2 (Debbie) age 62 and live in southern California. What is NCT forum?  

I cook for 3 people: me , my husband and a roommate that we have known since high school. We have two Persian cats and our roomie brought 5 with her when she moved in. Cooking is a challenge in this house. I can't eat anything with chilies, cayenne or heat. My husband wants low salt and roomie is going through a phase where she won't eat beef or pork. Oy! Try cooking within those parameters.

Niagara Visitor wrote:Hi Cindi, and welcome to the forum from Niagara, Canada! My daughter Cindy, used to spell her name Cindi sometimes, mostly as a teenager.

Like many people here, I also started cooking early, age 11-12.  We came from Germany when I was 11, my two older sisters were old enough to work on the farm in the summer, so it was often my task to start dinner before they all came home. And I stuck with it.  I was always the one who wanted to make something special when family friends came to visit.  Now 'special" to us was generally only a potato salad and some sausages, but I don't recall anyone complaining.

This is a fun and helpful forum, lots of information, and I look forward to reading some of your posts also.

I don't know either what the NCT forum is. There was one years ago on Cooking.com but they closed that down.

Niagara Visitor wrote:Real old German potato salad was generally made with some "Speck" a smoked type of dry ham, similar in flavour to prociutto.  That was cut into small cubes, placed in a pan to render the fat, add onion and when onion is softened, pour the fat mixture on the potatoes.  A generous amount of fresh chives, salt and pepper.  It was always served room temperature, or even when it is still warm.  

Using regular bacon will do very nicely, I have done that often.  I have a cookbook called The Cuisines of Germany which has many old, authentic recipes. My copy is in German.

Niagara Visitor wrote:Mayo was not available to us.   At least not to the poor people, which we were! I prefer a potato salad with mayo.  And for me it's got to be Hellman's real mayo.  Don't give me any of that light stuff!

Bugster2 wrote:

Niagara Visitor wrote:Mayo was not available to us.   At least not to the poor people, which we were! I prefer a potato salad with mayo.  And for me it's got to be Hellman's real mayo.  Don't give me any of that light stuff!

I hear ya! Hellman's is called Best Foods out here. The lite mayos are awful. Worse are those made with olive oil. I think they taste so foul.