I curl up with a cookbook like it was a steamy romance novel. I grew up around lots of fresh food, preserving food for long Indiana winters and big family meals. Herbs, lettuce, onions and tomatoes are planted right outside the kitchen door every year. My wonderful husband doesn't care for leftovers so recipes for two are perfect. Our diets have changed over the years. Low-sodium, low-fat and Diabetic friendly recipes are finding their way to the dinner table. I love to cook pies, appetizers, comfort foods, family holiday meals and new recipes. It's great to cook what I like, but it's even better when other people really enjoy it too! I start cooking everything from scratch the day before Thanksgiving for at least a dozen relatives and friends. The day after Thanksgiving is not a day to shop - it's the day Christmas decorating and baking begin! I have a lot of good recipes but had so many cookbooks that it took forever to find anything. I finally took the time to put everything on the computer and printed out my own cookbook. The recipe is placed inside protective plastic covers so spills can be wiped up easily. Notes are written in whenever something needs to be revised. It is assembled in a 3-ring binder so pages can be rearranged when I add my allrecipes print outs! Burning one of my best cookbooks was really stupid. When the phone rang I took a hot pan off the burner and set it on top of an open cookbook. The aroma of smoke hung in the air and bits of burned paper where everywhere when I tried to put out the "cooking" book! I can't make yeast breads and my stuffing is awful.