I am a semi-retired grandmother. I work 4 hours a day now so I can have some spending money of my own so I can buy the things I want versus those I need. I am a voracious reader ... love those mysteries and cookbooks. I am not much of a baker (somehow things just don't turn out as they should but I love to cook meals and try out new recipes. I especially like things that are oven cooked such as casseroles. Sometimes I will adapt recipes so they become oven cooked meals. I like to make many kinds of home-made soups some of which I have actually invented (such as Ukrainian Won Ton Soup)...yes, I am Ukrainian. My family celebrates Ukrainian Christmas as well as the regular one ... who can have too many Christmases? The traditional Ukrainian Christmas meal involves 12 meatless dishes. Of course, being Ukrainians who all like meat, this menu has evolved somewhat to suit our own tastes. Sometimes the date of Ukrainian Christmas also changes to make it more convenient for everyone ... hey, I did say we are Ukrainian, didn't I! My Ukrainian Won Ton soup has become famous amongst a certain limited group of people. This recipe, needless to say, was an accident. I started out to make a Chinese Won Ton soup and really got carried away. My Won Ton soup has no relation to the Chinese version other than won tons! I often try out new recipes and then modify them to suit my own tastes. In fact, few recipes I try are ever made exactly as printed either because I don't like some of the ingredients, think it needs some extra ingredients or sometimes I just don't have all the ingredients called for. When we were growing up, everytime my Mom made a turkey for a special occasion, she would always set the beautifully cooked bird on the kitchen counter and take a picture of it. We have a lot of pictures of cooked turkeys. When I was a newlywed, I decided to invite my brother and sister-in-law over for turkey supper. Although I had watched Mom cook turkeys all those years, I really had no idea what I was doing. Unfortunately, when I took the turkey out of the pan onto the platter, it looked really good for about 20 seconds and then completely fell apart. Turkey bits everywhere ... a tad overcooked. My sister-in-law asked if she should get the camera!!