I took an early retirement from GTE, was sole caregiver for my Mother until she died in 2005. Love to cross-stitch, crochet, avid genealogist though only started 1 year ago, love cats, reading all kinds of books; historical subjects especially. Love interior decorating- like country, romantic styles in decorating. I'm a great Anglophile. Tamale pie, spaghetti sauce, all kinds of bread, light rolls, cookies, burnt sugar cake,steamed carrot pudding, buttermilk white cake with boiled icing(Italian meringue). I like to cook old family recipes and use cast iron and cookware that belonged to my ancestors; I like to keep the recipes and methods of my great-grandparents,grandparents and mother alive. I am not a "healthy" cook, just try to avoid using a lot of eggs or heavy cream. I used to make beef stock in quantity when my mother was alive and ill. She said it tasted like liquified roast beef. American,southern. My paternal grandmother cooked with lard- that's where we part company. I make Carrot pudding and Roast Turkey with Cornbread dressing (cooked inside the bird) almost every holiday season (Thanksgiving and Christmas). My mother was a great cook- plain food but delicious. I hope to cook like her someday. I make a great lump-free white sauce- with a method my mother developed- good basic thing to know for stuff like cream dried beef and creamed tuna on toast. Delicous (but expensive to make) Beef stock made in a double batch (2 12 qt. stock pots) that simmers for 15 hours. Easy and good light rolls that I always have to bring to family parties. Good spaghetti sauce with no measurements- spices added in palmfuls, but much better than the stuff in jars. Baking cakes too long and drying them out, but I'm learning. Trying to carmelize sugar and having it "Sugar" at lightening speed. Leaving salt out of a bread recipe and wondering why it rose so fast. I just keep trying.