about me

Jesus is my Lord, Savior, Brother, Friend.
He is the sunshine of my life, the joy in my heart and the air that I breathe.
It's because of his love, grace and mercy that I have hope for the future...
and I look forward to seeing Him face-to-face.

I love to "experiment" in cooking, and I'm pretty good at it. But sometimes my family gets a wee bit exasperated at not knowing what's for dinner. Here's a conversation that's been repeated at our house more than a few times...
DH/Kid: "What are you cooking?"
Me: "An experiment."
DH/Kid: "What kind of experiment?"
Me: "Food."
DH/Kid: "What kind of food?"
Me: "Dinner."
DH/Kid: "But what are we having for dinner?!?"
Me: "How should I know...it's not done yet!"

I love reading, writing and cooking
...is it any wonder I love 'Zaar?

I'm a "Little House on the Prairie" girl at heart.
If I had my way, I'd own a primarily "off-the-grid", self-sustaining farm in the country.

I borrowed the following recipe-rating system from ~Bliss~,
as it seems to fit my style the best of any I've seen,
and modified it a bit to suit my own preferences:
5*--I'd serve it to dinner guests
4*--I'd order this in a restaurant
3*--Good enough for me, but not for guests
2*--Finished eating it, but with a struggle
1*--Unable to finish eating it

I wanted a place to honor those Zaar chefs that have passed away. Some of them were before my time, but they live on in their recipes and their humor/joy of life. God bless you all, and I hope I one day get the privilege of cooking alongside you in that Great Kitchen in the Sky.

Redneck Epicurean's page
T. Woolfe's page
SilentCricket's page
Chef Miller�'s page
Chef Latchy's page
Chef Lee Lee's page
If I'm in one of the Zaar forums, I'm normally in one of these rooms...pretty much in this order:
Community Cafe
Food Storage
Canning & Preserves
Here's a poem I wrote for Gay, Troy and the elves. There's a lot of work and stress that goes on behind the scenes...stuff we don't see. I just thought I'd let them know I appreciate the hard work they do.
To Zaar
In the middle of the night, when all is still,
you've woken up, six hours until
you have to be at work (to use your skill).
Where do you go?
To 'Zaar.
The kids are yelling, your head is pounding,
The dog's in the yard, baying, sounding
like it's being killed...the tension's mounting.
Where do you go?
To 'Zaar.
It's your break at work, you tap your toes,
You've got time to kill, and everyone knows
there's nothing to do, time just flows.
Where do you go?
To 'Zaar.
Dinner's cooking, company's coming,
You're not quite sure if your boss is slumming
by eating there...your nerves are humming.
Where do you go?
To 'Zaar.
All is quiet, the kids are in bed,
Your spouse is content, having been fed
"Such a wonderful dinner!" he happily said.
Where do you go?
To 'Zaar.
To talk, to laugh, to cry, to whinge,
When your nerves and mind want to unhinge,
To get a recipe, to chat with a friend...
Just go to 'Zaar.
The End.
Copyright UnknownChef86, 2006
20 random things about myself:
1. I live in the same town I grew up in.
2. I recently became a grandmother for the first time.
3. I am the "baby" of the family...I have four older siblings.
4. I would love to go back to southern Poland again, to visit.
5. My favorite colors are dark blue and hunter green.
6. I yearn to live in the country.
7. I can't recommend the books "For Women Only" and "For Men Only" by Shaunti & Jeff Feldhahn highly enough...they saved my marriage.
8. I'm allergic to a lot of things...primarily environmental and chemical.
9. Due to my fibro, I need my vitamins like a diabetic needs insulin.
10. The picture of the foot (on the bottom of my About Me page) is mine.
11. I have 3 kids...17-1/2, 19, 20.
12. I love to listen to www.praise1065.com.
13. I learned how to can from my mom...and still do it.
14. I've been married for 20 years.
15. I love playing board games.
16. I would love to become a published author.
17. My mom and dad both passed away (separately) in 2002.
18. Our family loves "Firefly" and "Serenity" by Joss Whedon.
19. I have two dogs (lab/retriever/traveling salesman mix) and a cat.
20. I would love to own a restaurant.
The 100 Acre Personality Quiz
| ESFP - "Entertainer". Radiates attractive warmth and optimism. Smooth, witty, charming, clever. Fun to be with. Very generous. 8.5% of the total population. |
Free Jung Personality Test (similar to Myers-Briggs/MBTI)
Your EQ is 167
150+: Two possibilities - you've either out "Dr. Phil-ed" Dr. Phil... or you're a dirty liar.
What's Your EQ (Emotional Intelligence Quotient)?
8/14/06: - 0/145
8/28/06: -15.9/145
9/07/06: -23.0/145
9/25/06: -26.2/145
10/6/06: -30.6/145
(insert a 4 month dietary hiatus, regaining (then re-loss of) 15 lb. :?)
7/13/07: -36.7/145
Here are some cookbooks I'd like to look through later. Think of this as a bookmark on the library shelf...
What else??? Jellies, Jams, etc. by JellyQueen
#1 - The Best of Zaar by Marg @ Cayman Designs
Canning & Such by kdp
Wooden Skewer Recipes by
Pixie
Let Me OUTTA here!!!!! by LAURIE
Cast Iron Cooking by Grandmaof1
Chicken Cookbook by Lvs2Cook
Tried and True by Tornado Ali
Medicate Me by eebrag
From 2 Live Jews to Youse! by The Whimsical 2
Drink, Drank, NOT Drunk by The Whimsical 2
Substitutions by CaramelPie
Company's Coming by Lennie
Almost Too Beautiful to Eat by eebrag
Burgers--Never to Meat Again by eebrag
Camping by eebrag
Thirsty? by MommyMakes
Canning Recipes by bikerchick
Australian/New Zealand classics by JanS
...along with a few of my favorite Zaar chef pages, particularly when they have too many cookbooks to list here! Or they don't have any cookbooks! :D
Chef Tish's About Me page
Chef Miller�'s Recipes page
Chef kzbhansen's Recipes Page
Chef Bone Man's Recipes Page
...along with a 'Zaar page or two that are worth perusing at length. :D
Great "handed down" recipes
Instant Cooking Remedies
**Skinny Beaches** - SBD Thread!

A footnote?

Favorite Foods:
I'm having a tough time with this one. Since I love to cook, there are a variety of recipes I enjoy cooking, and that my family and friends enjoy. I suppose some of my most popular ones are homemade pizza (on a french dough crust), curried pork and rice (my mom's recipe...sorry!) and lasagna. I handwrite all my (and my family's) most-favorite recipes in an empty cookbook, so that my children will have "Mom's Cookbook" when I'm gone. I'm doing one for each of the kids, so there won't be any posthumous squabbling over who gets Mom's cookbook! ;o)