RéeLani

about me

Greetings from the palm of the Mitten State! I'm 40-somthing and relatively newly married (4/28/06)...with an awesome husband, Todd. I'm mom to 1 wonderful cat, Bentley, and a teen step-son, David. I was a travel agent for over 16 years, then an auto claim assistant. Now, after a year of school, I'm into a new career as a medical coder and biller. I work in a large orthopedic office and am learning something new every day.

I love to cook, and especially to bake. It's great to share the gift of good food with my sweet wonderful husband, family and friends.

When I'm not working in the kitchen I enjoy reading, working on counted cross stitch projects, walking, singing with my church choir, scrapbooking and visiting with family and friends. I'm an obsessive recipe collector and just love reading them for hours on the web. I also love animals, and was a cat care volunteer at a local shelter for many years before relocating.

RÉE'S STAR RATINGS (effective for 2007 ratings and beyond)
5 — Amazing! Incredible! Want to eat it or drink it all the time! Obviously this wowed us. Maybe it’s too decadent to make very often, but we can dream.

4 — Great! We loved it and will probably be having this frequently.

3 — Good . We liked it and might have it again, possibly with some changes.

2 — Passable. We ate it but won’t eat any leftovers and won’t be making this again, at least not as written. This will probably be due most often to one flavor being too strong.

1 — Inedible. There’s a critical error in the recipe.

Favorite Foods:

My favorite foods are rice and mushrooms and peanut butter and macadamia nuts (not necessarily all together!). I also love dried fruits like cherries, apricots and cranberries, which you'll frequently find in my recipes.

Going out to eat? I could go for good egg rolls (bean sprouts NOT cabbage) every day. And I love Mr. Pita sandwiches and Starbucks' Mocha Valencia, and orange glazed scones from Panera Bread.

Baking is my favorite part of cooking and I especially enjoy making cakes and cookies and have also learned to make yeast breads, which is a lot of fun.

I really enjoy trying out cocktail recipes, too, and my liqueur collection is always growing. Try Bacardi Ciclon if you haven't had it yet. Part rum, part tequila, total great smooth taste!

Some things I don't like: Organ meats; Most fish, although I enjoy shrimp and scallops; Cilantro; Anything loaded with onions and garlic; Eggs; A number of veggies (yes, I know they're good for me!) like broccoli, asparagus, brussels sprouts, cauliflower, cooked spinach and creamed corn.

none