I like to cook when I have time to devote to it. After all of these years of practice I am pretty good at it. I follow recipes someone else has created and tested. I am not to imaginative. Once in a while I will add something to a recipe that I know my family will like or leave out one or two ingredients they would not like.

This past year my doctor discovered that I need to keep my cholesterol down. He put me on the proper medication and then sent me to a dietian to learn to eat to aid in keeping the cholesterol down. My cholesterol seems to be under control for now, but I use recipes as often as I can to help keep it there.

I tend to get an idea about a way of cooking, i.e. pressure cooking or crock pot cookery that goes on for a time until another urge strikes. Right now I seem to be in a mood for finding soup.

I find most of my recipes on the web, library books and passed on from friends. I will be sharing some with you on the recipes page.

We also like to go out to eat once a week or so. We don't usually go to "fancy" places but we find some things we like about most places we go. I will share some of our experiences here too. Of course, going out to eat can be a problem when you are trying to be careful about fat and sugar intake. One thing I find helps when I am particularly worried is take some condiments with me such as low fat salad dressings, low cholesterol spreads, etc. Another thing that helps is to order food that is broiled or baked as opposed to fried and order salad dressings, gravy, etc. on the side.

We visited a near by Cracker Barrel for dinner last Sunday. We have gone there several times before. They serve food that is very close to homemade cooking, and the atmosphere is country like setting. Sort of a General Store type. There is a large stone fire place, often with logs on the fire. And a table set up with a cloth checker board and large checker pieces. All in all it is a comforting and warm atmosphere. Cracker Barrel country store/restaurants are located all across the US and near interstates. There are collectable figurines, classic children toys, old fashioned candy and so many other interesting items to peruse and buy. (I find the made-from-scratch buttermilk biscuits delicious!).

This past weekend we had an early Sunday dinner at our local HomeTown Buffet. We like going there because we can each get what ever we feel like eating that day. I nearly always get the fish and a small piece of chicken. The problem for me at a buffet style resturant is it all looks so good and I eat to much. They have salads both green and pasta/potato; two kinds of soup (like the corn chowder, yumm); several kinds of meat and rolls; two or three kinds of vegetable; mashed potatoes, stuffing and gravies. And a huge selection of desserts. The atmosphere is friendly and the patrons seems in happy relaxed moods. The venue is large and airy and sunny.

At special times when family that live far apart come to town it is nice to cook special meals for them. It is also nice to go to a friendly family restaurant to share good times. That is what we did as a family a couple of weeks ago. We chose a near by Bob Evans. It lends itself to a warm and homey atmosphere with all the baskets and pottery located through out. The food is also very close to home cooking. We shared happy thoughts of memories past and future plans. Even in the parking lot our fun went on as we went on to the rest of the day. It seems food helps calm and relax people doesn't it? As I mentioned earlier, my son and I go out for an early supper on Sunday's and Bob Evans is one of the places we choose often.