Hello! I am a 50-something wife, mother and grandmother. The only thing I like more than cooking good food is watching my family and friends enjoy my creations. My husband is a professor. I have two grown children and five precious grandchildren. I love to bake, especially pies, and have found lots of good recipes on this website. I also love cooking big pots of soup and stew. I like using lots of fresh fruit and vegetables raw and cooked in my meals. I bake bread every week for my husband and myself. I love baking big, round earthy loaves. Every summer I do lots of canning. My family and friends benefit by receiving my special pickles, jams and preserves. I always take a jar of something I made as a hostess gift to a party. They can buy their wine themselves! My apple pie and apple dumplings are to die for! I also make a killer brownie that I created from two recipes on this site. All my friends and family beg for them. My bread is always a big hit. My children were visiting recently and I sent a loaf home with each of them. They called the same day to say the loaves were almost already gone! I cannot make old-fashioned fudge and it frustrates me. I make other candies using a thermometer that are just as hard with great success. But fudge has always eluded me. Also, I would love to make a great fried apricot pie but I am never happy with the results I have had. My mother-in-law makes great ones. Maybe I should leave her at least one thing she does better than me!