Valerie in Florida

about me

I currently live in Stuart, Florida which is a great place to live. I moved here from Orlando many years ago to live the life of a beach bum and have gotten quite good at it. I am actually a Yankee, but becoming more Southern by the day.
During the past several years I found an absolute love for cooking. The man in my life loves to eat so we make a good match. I absolutely love Recipezaar and can no longer live without it. I think it is great that I can see what other people think of the recipes before I try them. I have some favorite chefs and reviewers on this site and I know when I try their recipes I can never lose ! My passions are my family, my cats (Lynx and Kitty), the beach and now cooking. My pet peeve is anyone that abuses animals. AND THIS IS A BIG PET PEEVE ! I am currently a Legal Assistant/Paralegal but can't see myself doing this forever. If I did not work, I would probably spend my time cooking and taking care of the 50-animals that I would most likely adopt.
(Update....my kitty Lynx died this past October, but I adopted a new bratty little girl named "Baby". She is very sweet, but appears to love my boyfriend much more than me. I guess as a female that is her prerogative. LOL)

Favorite Foods:

Flavor, flavor, flavor ! My favorite foods are anything with carbohydrates in them ! (lol). I am Italian and love Italian food. But when it comes down to it, I just love bold flavor in just about everything and there are very few foods that I won't eat.
I really just love to cook anything that makes people smile when they eat it.
My favorite restaurants are (believe it or not) PF Changs and Carrabbas. The reason being is that I know, every time I go, I will get a consistent great meal. I love a good pizza but I am afraid to say good pizza is hard to find down here. I try to take a break from cooking and go out to eat once a week but I am very, very picky about restaurants. If I pay the price, I want a great meal. I am known for my soups, which I love making, but during the summer it is hard to crave this sort of thing. Oh, and my pumpkin bread. I got the recipe from this site and it is by far my most requested recipe to make, although I cannot take credit for being the author (Pumpkin Spice Bread, thank you Jmelyn !!)

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