It certainly is to the fine city of Indianapolis, and food and spirit merchants everywhere. Also to my family who will enjoy all the great appetizers and main course that I’ll prepare.  It’s perfect timing as I have a lot of leftover stuff from the holidays that is ready to expire (if it hasn’t already) and I’ve found recipes to use it all.  I often consult www.stilltasty.com to confirm what I usually know. This blog has been six years in the making..my original post was a rant against packaging.  Nothing’s changed in that regard except that I’m 6 years older, my hard-working hands are more gnarly than ever, and it’s a  challenge to free any products from their bondage of shrink wrap, blister packs, foil seals, cardboard boxes and the like.  After much trial, error and damaging of products, countertops and my digits, I’ve determined that an industrial strength box cutter will open even the most resistant packaging.  Also at that time I had many concerns about the drivers and road conditions in my city of Louisville, Kentucky and desired to rage against my perceptions of ineptitude, inconsideration, poor city planning, shortsightedness for the future (e.g. lack of light rail, the ‘bridge’ debacle, etc.); I never got the blog going and in the interim, I purchased a large cross-over vehicle; others now fear me.  When feasible I avoid driving in certain areas at times of the day or week when there will be a higher concentration of morons on the road.  Ah, the wisdom of age.

On to the real purpose of this blog.  I began to acquire recipes many decades ago; when I was first married, we (husband & baby daughter) lived next door to my Mother;  we(the womenfolk) began shopping and cooking together on the weekends; those years I spent more time trying to figure out shortcuts than finding enjoyment in the cooking process.  I still won’t bake bread, the 10 minute kneading process mentally puts me off although I can spend an equal amount of time or more prepping herbs & vegetables.  Over the years my collection began to grow from my Mother’s, neighbors’ & friends’ recipes, to clipping from the many magazines I still enjoy (another post) and then came the internet.  I realized how much I enjoyed acquiring recipies but at that point I had so many (in addition to way-too-many cookbooks) that I was only able to use the old standbys I knew almost by heart or resort to spending hours sifting through the collection marked with a zillion post-it notes (kind of like looking through photo albums –  hard to stop once you start).  Hence began ‘the recipe project’.  My 12 year old Dell finally gave up the ghost.  A new PC and laptop, both with a ample memory, speedy processing and  Word 2010 helped to jump-start the endeavor.  After the holidays and during the cold, grey days of winter when I didn’t feel obligated to be outside working in the yard or (thinking about) going for a walk, I began to edit and type my collection. Kind of a daunting task but made more so by the fact that as I began looking up recipes online that were incomplete or needed fine-tuning, I got lost in the blogs and down the pathways my searches took me, enjoying the comments and stories of how someone else’s Grandma or other person in their life prepared a dish for this or that event.   My collection in Word format safely resides on a thumb drive and is synched to the Google Cloud.  My OCD tendencies served me well during the execution of this project;  I changed my font preference a quarter of the way through and of course, had to go back and tidy things up.  My plan is to post fairly frequently as I feel I have a lot to share.  While at work the conversation invariably turns to food;  being the elder foodie of the group the rest expect my input (welcome or not).  My format allows me to search by any method (ingredient, serving size e.g. cookies, function)  and find what I’m looking for instantly.  I can then view, print, email or attach.  I pull them up on my laptop and enlarge the font (while pressing ctrl on your keyboard, move your mouse scroll wheel back or forth – apologies if you already know this) so I can view it from my tiny kitchen.  For now there will be no pictures, I’ve just begun attaching them to baked goods recipes since the finished products are so pretty but I don’t have the time or inclination (talent) to photograph my chopped onions.  Once I got the new computer I started using my other electronics  like my digi-camera and MP3 since I could actually utilize their features.  So, today’s menu is as follows:  Brie en croute with Georgia Peach Chutney & assorted fruit slices; other nice leftover cheeses & crackers that need to go; Crappy Salsa Dip w/Whole Grain Tortilla Chips; Vegetarian Chili with either Skillet Cornbread or Jiffy Corn Casserole and Chocolate Pudding Cake in the crockpot.  I think events like the Super Bowl lend themselves to certain types of dishes.  Future posts will discuss stores andwholesome products I like that don’t have to cost the earth.  Thanks for your time, enjoy the rest of your day. S

Crappy Salsa Dip   Cornbread    Jiffy Corn Casserole   Vegetarian Chile with Guiness   Three Bean Vegetable Chile  Crescent-Wrapped Brie with Cranberry   Chocolate Pudding Cakes crockpot