Introduce yourself!

[Chefzhat]

In the interest of getting to know our new members, I thought we might introduce ourselves. I realize that a lot of people are having trouble logging on, or staying logged on (or struggling with the search default - hint hint hint). Perhaps we can keep this bumped for a while so that as the Cottage Living folks wander over they will be able to see this.

I'll start:

Name: Debie
Location: West Michigan
Subscriber Cooking Light, but I bought Cottage Living almost every month.
Stats: married 18 years, 4 kids (includes 2 stepkids). 2 doggies. I like any outdoor sport, and spend as much time outdoors as possible. I am closer to 50 than 40. We have a house in the woods, and a house at the lake, where I reside most of the summer.
Favorite Food: Risotto
Favorite Color: Red
Hobbies: skiing, walking, cooking
Person You'd Most Like To Have Dinner With: David Bowie

[Cinnamon Crazy]

I can't sleep so I will play:

Name: Anna
Location: Fresno/Clovis California
Subscriber Cooking Light but just the annuals now. I love these boards, but I am much more a lurker than a poster.
Stats: From a big Portuguese family, single, no kids. A tax accountant who loves her job.
Favorite Food: My oatmeal, cinnamon, choc chip walnut cookies
Favorite Color: Pink
Hobbies: Baking, reading, swimming (any water sport)
Person You'd Most Like To Have Dinner With: Hugh Jackman (I just saw Australia over the weekend and he is very much on my mind).

[shoezoo]

It's nice to learn more about people we see on line every day.

Name: Judy
Location: Northern Minnesota
Subscriber: Cooking Light
Stats: Married, Business owner, 2 Black Labs
Favorite Food: ? Tough question for foodies-chocolate
Favorite color: green
Hobbies: Cooking, skiing, running, reading
Person you'd like to have dinner with: Bobmark from the boards-wouldn't that be great food and interesting conversation???

[KristiB]

Name: Kristine

Location: Arizona

Subscriber: BA, Gourmet sometimes CL.

Stats: Single but have been dating the same guy for 3 years. Have a cat named Puddy(as in "I tawt I taw a Puddy Tat") who acts like a child.

Favorite Food: Pizza

Favorite Color: Orange

Hobbies: reading, geocaching, cooking

Person You'd Most Like To Have Dinner With: Benjamin Franklin

[Terri_A]

Name:Terri
Location: Houston, Texas
Subscriber Cooking Light annuals, Bon Appetit, Everyday food
Stats: Single mom of one daughter, known here as "the weeone", work in sales, also decorate fun custom cakes, usually have too much on my plate, but love every minute of the craziness that is my life!
Favorite Food: Really? I have to pick one??? I love almost anything Italian (particularly filled pastas), Mexican food (if I don't have to cook it!) and I have a special relationship with Starbucks Chai Lattes
Favorite Color: Green
Hobbies: Shopping, planning parties (even when they're not my own), reading, movies, LSU football (watching, not playing), Steeler football, Astros baseball...well...just sports in general!
Person You'd Most Like To Have Dinner With: My dear childhood friend Angela. She lost a battle with lymphoma this past February and I miss her as much today as the day she died. I'd give up a lot to have dinner with her just one more time.

[Hammster]

Ok, my turn.

Name: Mike
Location: San Diego, Ca
Subscriber Cooking Light, several photography magazines.
Stats: married 29 years, 25 yo twin sons. No pets. I am closer to 50 than 60.
Favorite Food: Candy (I truly have an insatiable sweet tooth)
Favorite Color: Blue
Hobbies: hiking, photography, cooking
Person You'd Most Like To Have Dinner With: Ansel Adams Ok, Thomas Keller

[Terri_A]

Person you'd like to have dinner with: Bobmark from the boards-wouldn't that be great food and interesting conversation???

THAT would be amazingly entertaining!!! Can I come to dinner with ya'll?

[Mamasue]

Name: Susan
Location: Massachusetts
Subscriber Cooking Light, Martha Stewart Living
Stats: Married 38 years; 1 daughter, 1 granddaugher, 2 cats (Ping and Pong). I work part time for a company that archives newspapers on film for libraries. Its a stinky job but someone has to do it and we need the income! My DH is also my best friend. We live in a 55+ community and dream of a small home on a lake or ocean.
Favorite Food: This is difficult.....in the sweet department it would have to be cookies because I like to bake cookies. I love food..... period!
Color: Red, Black
Hobbies: Baking, cooking, crafting with any type needle, kissing my granddaughter when I can (she lives in NC), yard sales in the warm weather.
Person You'd Most Like To Have Dinner With: At this moment I would have to say Pink. I love her latest song and find that she would have MUCH to say at the table. Lydia Bastianich would be wonderful to listen to on the subject of Italian cooking. It is my dream to dine in one of her restaurants.

[avariell]

I will play!

Name: Josie
Location: Columbus, Ohio
Subscriber : Bon Appetit, Martha Stewart Living
Stats: 29 y/o, single, but have been dating my bf for 2.5 years - he lives in Connecticut which keeps things interesting... I hope to move there soon. I have 2 dogs, a Great Dane named Crash and a Mutt named Millie.
Favorite Food: Eeesh. Picking one is too hard for me too. I am obsessed with dill pickles, bagels with lox, fresh-from-the-oven chocolate chip cookies and beer (at least I am honest)
Favorite Color: Green
Hobbies: I am a huge baseball fan (duh!) and also love college basketball. I get into most any sports, but those are my favorites. I work out a ton, am starting to take tap and ballet classes and play volleyball in the summer. Oh- and cooking. I really enjoy that
Person You'd Most Like To Have Dinner With: I would love to have the opportunity to know my Grandma as an adult. She passed away when I was in the 7th grade - so dinner might not be enough, but I would take it. (Although Bob comes in at a close second... )

[Spotted Pony]

Name: Spotted Pony, aka CJ
Location: Indiana
Subscriber: I let my subscriptions run out. I have a terrible clutter problem and they were contributing. I love the library for magazines!
Stats: Married 12 years, 2 kids, 1 dog, 1 spotted horse, 2 spotted ponies, many cats. I was downsized from my job in October and since then have been building my freelance graphic design business. And...today's my birthday!
Favorite Food: Today, my favorite food is yeast rolls with butter. I will probably have a new favorite next week!
Favorite Color: Red and pink
Hobbies: horses (although I don't get to ride much anymore), reading, cooking
Person You'd Most Like To Have Dinner With: Just about anyone who likes good food and lots of laughs!

[Andrea_2]

Name: Andrea
Location: Suburban Chicago
Subscriber: Cooking Light, although I always buy Bon Appetit and Cooks Illustrated.
Stats: I have been married for 8 years, and have a 5 year old boy and 2 year old girl. I'll be 39 next week (boy did my 30's go fast!). I work as a retail pharmacist which I really enjoy (on most days anyway...)
Favorite Food: Tough question, but I guess I'll choose pizza if I have to narrow it down to one thing.
Favorite Color: Red
Hobbies: Cooking, reading, traveling
Person You'd Most Like To Have Dinner With: Barack Obama

[Robyn1007]

Name: Robyn
Location: Denver
Subscriber: Cooking Light, Gourmet and Bon Apetit
Stats: Single, 31, with 1 cat.
Favorite Food: Eek, I don't know. Probably some sort of seafood.
Favorite Color: Apple Green
Hobbies: Skiing (and coaching), triathlon training
Person You'd Most Like To Have Dinner With: My grandmother on my dad's side who died long before I was born.

[suebear37]

Great idea, Debie!!!

Name: Sue
Location: Liverpool, NY (suburb of Syracuse)
Subscriber: Cooking Light, Everyday With Rachael Ray, Cuisine at Home
Stats: Hey, I'll put it right out there... I'm 52. Married 30 years. SAHM. 2 sons, 25 & 22. Oldest one getting married in October! No pets, but I do have a new "grand-puppy"... Bubba the English Bulldog! Former crew parent. Confirmed Wegmans addict. Love the Caribbean in the winter & the Adirondacks in the summer.
Favorite food: Popcorn, but pizza's not far behind.
Favorite color: Green
Hobbies: Cooking, reading, traveling, crafts when the mood strikes me.
Person I'd most like to have dinner with: Charles Barkley

[Kayaksoup]

Happy Birthday Spotted Pony!

Name: Linda
Location: Vancouver, BC
Subscription: Non, but I buy and magazine-share all the food mags AND a few of the fashion ones.
Stats: 29, live with boyfriend of 8 years and cat in a tiny appartment. I am a chef for a catering company, I work 60+ hrs a week and I love it. I have become a bit more of a lurker in recent years as time constraints have forced me to cut down on internet fun.
Favourite Food: Pork and all its relatives
Favourite colour: Green
Hobbies: Well, I used to have a hobbies such as painting, beading sewing and cooking. Now I work, eat, sleep and watch the occasional movie.
Person I would most like to have dinner with: MY DBF. I work an opposite shift to him and dinners together are rare indeed.

[1grl1by]

Name: Elizabeth
Location: Maryland
Subscriber Cooking Light, (on again, off again)
Stats: Married 24 years, 2 kids (1 grl (13), 1 by (10)), work full time out of the home, commute a long, long way, am a soccer/swimming mom in the evenings and on weekends
Favorite Food: Greek
Favorite Color: Taupe
Hobbies: cooking, knitting, reading, watching my kids play sports
Person You'd Most Like To Have Dinner With: my mom

[SandyM]

Name: Sandy
Location: Novi, MI
Subscription: I let my CL sub lapse but I pick up the occasional issue.
Stats: I've been a member here for almost 9 years. Divorced 2+ years, been with DBF for just over a year. I work for one of The Big Three (the one in the best shape as of right now). I'm 45 years old and still can't even believe that - I barely feel 35.
Favourite Food: Chips & salsa, lobster
Favourite color: Blue
Hobbies: Baking, making cards, travelling, wine, music
Person I would most like to have dinner with: Dean Martin.

[sneezles]

Love this!

Name: Susan
Location: Texas (South central)
Subscriber Cooking Light, almost continuously since '87, Gourmet, BA, Eating Well, Taste of Home but I hate it and will never subscribe again, CI-online, Fine Cooking-online, Cook's Country-online, Every Day Food, Everyday with Rachel Ray, Fiery Foods, Chile Pepper
Stats: married 29 years, 3 sons. 1 dog, 4 horses, 1 mule. We moved to the country permanently in 2000. Built a home, raise cattle, used to own the town beer joint (sold it last week) that we converted to a restaurant. DH (Richard) is a cruise-aholic though beginning next Spring we will be cruisin' by land in our new 40' RV
Favorite Food: Mexican
Favorite Color: Green
Hobbies: reading, walking, cooking
Person You'd Most Like To Have Dinner With: Rick Bayless

[schuh]

Name: Tracy
Location: Rochester, NY
Subscriber: Cooking Light, Bon Appetit (gift), Family Circle, Health, Gourmet, Taste of Home (gift), and soon Southern Living (an XMas gift from my Mom, who lives in Florida, however I've always lived in the North...) I'm a sucker for subscription deals at $5 or less and keep resolving not to buy so many...
Stats: married 17 years, 2 sons (11 & 13), 1 Bichon/Poodle mix named Charlie. Mid-40s. Grew up in the Chicago area ... went to college in Milwaukee. At-home mom ... do part-time seasonal work at a pumpkin farm.
Favorite Food: Chocolate Chip Cookies, fresh from the oven ... or the uncooked dough ... I can't decide!
Favorite Color: Red
Hobbies: Cooking, entering cooking contests, food blogger (Rah Cha Chow), scrapbooking, play acoustic guitar & sing in a rock band (classic rock, mostly 1970s)
Person You'd Most Like To Have Dinner With: Barack Obama ... preferably in the White House ...

[mrswaz]

Name: Erika
Location: NE Wisconsin, near Green Bay
Subscriber: Cooking Light,Eating Well, Healthy Cooking, Taste of Home, Gourmet, Everyday with RR, Vegetarian Times, and I buy Everyday Food often at the checkout. as well as the gorgeous quilt magazines, although I don't really quilt yet.
Stats: married 9 years, 2 children, 8 and almost 5, I'm a SAHM, food blogger, and I develop recipes for my local paper. I always call myself Amish at heart because I have dreams of living a simple, rustic life. I'm closer to 30 than 40, and the only pets we have are fish- which I love! We rent because DH works seasonally and it works well for us.
Favorite Food: Anything that would fall in the realms of comfort food
Favorite Color: Purple, red would be a close second
Hobbies: cooking, veggie gardening, cross-stitch, and I really want to learn to quilt
Person You'd Most Like To Have Dinner With: Tom Colicchio

[mcgeiger]

Name: Kelly
Location: Boulder, CO
Subscriber Cooking Light, Bon Apetit, Food and Wine, Gourmet (not currently), Saveur (intermittantly), NG Adventurer, NG Traveler (new), Money (new--decided now that I make money I should learn "stuff")
Stats: 31 in 2 weeks, married 8 1/2 years; I'm in my first year out of vet school and work as a small animal/exotic vet; 2 spoiled rotten cats
Favorite Food: Indian
Favorite Color: Chocolate brown to wear, purple for everything else
Hobbies: Knitting, snowboarding, hiking, snowshoeing, rock climbing, running, cooking, reading
Person You'd Most Like To Have Dinner With: My great grand parents that immigrated from Ireland; Barack Obama

PS Becca and I, both vets, try to answer questions that are general but have to be very careful about that whole legal thing

[Varaile]

Thanks for starting this. It's been a while since we've done introductions.

Name: Kristin (Varaile on the boards)
Location: Duluth, MN
Subscriber : Cooking Light; Cooks Illustrated, Eating Well
Stats: married 18 years; 2 hounds (lab and english setter). I like any outdoor activity, and spend as much time outdoors as possible. I am almost 38. We have a house in the country.
Favorite Food: Almost anything on my plate (except peanut butter).
Favorite Color: Depends on my mood.
Hobbies: yoga, reading, knitting, writing, playing with dogs, hiking, gardening
Person You'd Most Like To Have Dinner With: My grandmother on my Mom's side who died when I was 5. Or someday meeting some of the folks on the BB!

[Terrytx]

Name: Terry
Location: Houston, Tx
Subscriber: Cooking Light, Southern Living, and Mental Floss
Stats: married 27 years, 5 kids (4 boys and 1 girl). 2 dogs. I am closer to 60 than 70. retired.
Favorite Food: like it all
Favorite Color: blue
Hobbies: resding, and cooking
Person You'd Most Like To Have Dinner With: my Mom, if she did the cooking (she died about 5 years ago)

[Rae]

Name: Kristen
Location: Western Wisconsin, right on the Mississippi
Subscriber: Cooking Light (almost continually since 1987), Eating Well, Food and Wine, Mother Earth News.
Stats: Single with a 2 year old yellow lab mix named Grace. I am a librarian but currently work as a library consultant.
Favorite Food: I had a filet last week I just can't get out of my mind, so that would probably be my current favorite.
Favorite Color: Don't have one.
Hobbies: Cooking, reading, gardening, walking my dog, exploring with my two terrific nephews, knitting.
Person You'd Most Like To Have Dinner With: My grandparents and great-grandmothers who have passed, so I could make sure they know how much I miss them and how influential they were.

[pilgrim719]

I love reading everyone's bios! Thanks for starting this thread, Debie!

Name: Kari
Location: just outside Albany, NY
Subscriber: used to get Cooking Light but let it run out, still get Everyday Food and Healthy Cooking, and just let Vegetarian Times expire because I wasn't finding much inspiration there anymore
Stats: 31, single, 2 cats who I treat like my children. I have a job I love, and a mom who is my best friend and lives too far away from me even at just a 3-hr drive.
Favorite Food: can't pick one -- fresh fruit, peanut butter, brownies, oatmeal, pasta, pizza, popcorn, and chocolate...to name a few
Favorite Color: can't pick one of these either -- baby pink, burnt orange, eggplant, Granny Smith green
Hobbies: I love to bake, hike, watch movies, read, travel, and play sports.
Person You'd Most Like To Have Dinner With: Since I've already had dinner with Bob ...I'll go with Hugh Laurie or Chris Noth.

[ktg0930]

Name: Kathy
Location: East Tennessee
Subscriber: Eating Well. I let my Cooking Light subscription lapse this year since I found I identified the good recipes on this board. Like Cinnamon Crazy, I love the boards but lurk more than post.
Stats: Married 6 years, no kids but 3 cats. I manage clinical trials and am 40.
Favorite Food: Pizza, pretty much any kind of cookie, chocolate (can you tell I have a sweet tooth?)
Favorite Color: Blue
Hobbies: Baking, reading, running.
Person You'd Most Like To Have Dinner With: My grandma on my mom's side who I'd love to know as an adult, Barack Obama, Abraham Lincoln, DH's mother before Alzheimer's.

[LakeMartinGal]

Name: Kay
Location: East Alabama
Subscriber Cooking Light, Everyday with Rachael Ray (until it runs out), Cooking for 2, Healthy Cooking (does anyone sense a theme?
Stats: Married 40 years in February to the same guy -- my college sweetheart, 63 years young, 2 DDs (One in SF, and one who lives with us). Two golden retrievers, live on a lake! Now a contract merchandiser and mystery shopper.
Favorite Food: Pizza, most red-sauce Italian.
Favorite Color: Aqua
Hobbies: baking, cross-stitch, reading, water aerobics
Person You'd Most Like To Have Dinner With: Diana Gabaldon, author of The Outlander, et al.

[testkitchen45]

CLBB name: testkitchen45, as in "a test kitchen for five people"--my family!
Location: Texas. State Motto: We Wear Shorts and Parkas in the Same Week.
Subscriber: CL and BA; occasionally buy CI; read Christian pubs also. I enjoy my DH's Forbes, Discover, and Popular Mechanics.
Stats: 40s, teenage twin DSs + elem-school DD; married to the funniest guy on the planet since my mid-20s. Have been a SAHM since Day 1 (well, before that if you count bed rest). In prior life was a team leader in large corp (proj mgmt + people mgmt, writing, & editing); now it's home mgmt & kid mgmt. And cat mgmt--have a white-footed black cat who's surprisingly big for a female kitty.
Favorite food: Cinnamon ice cream plus hot fudge sauce. Or a certain French restaurant's tournedos of beef with peppercorn cream sauce (a rare treat). Celery. (Just kidding. Thought the hi-cal options needed some balance.) Lots of dishes from my own kitchen, of course.
Favorite color: Fire-engine red. Happy yellow = a close second. (I'm a sucker for the colors of Le Creuset--if all those pots came in only Dune and Slate, I'd own zero. )
Hobbies: Long list! Cooking (duh), photography, scrapbooking, rubber-stamping of cards & other paper goodies, plus I'm a voracious reader and I sometimes help DH with his landscaping/gardening hobby (did that a lot more b4 the kiddos came along). Time permitting, or as DD grows older and I teach her the crafts I used to do, we can add sewing (clothing & home dec), needlepoint, quilting, crocheting, cross-stitch, embroidery, other paper crafts, lots more. Although I'm always on the go, "exercise" has not been on the list, except for some lessons in golf & racquetball; joined a gym with DH this weekend. (Ick. But I guess I'll learn to like it; he does.)
Person I'd most like to have dinner with: My MIL if she were still living; she loved cooking, entertaining, & decorating. Also, I think it'd be fun to meet several CLBBers IRL.

[Pony]

Name: Michelle
Location: Houston, but wish we still lived in Chicago
Subscriber: BA and Gourmet and I get all the CL annuals
Stats: I've been married for 5 years. Pregnant and due in January!!!! We rescued a Doberman, Charlie, a year ago. I'm 33 and a Registered Dietitian.
Favorite Food: Right now, anything w/ winter squashes
Favorite Color: Greens and grays and blues
Hobbies: Anything food related, drinking wine (well, not right now, but look forward to it in January!), walking, watching the Cubs
Person You'd Most Like To Have Dinner With: Grandmother

[phantomcg]

Name: Cheryl
Location: Michigan
Subscription: I've pretty much let all my subscriptions lapse though, for now, I do still get Cooking Light and Veggie Times.
Stats: I've been hanging around the boards for an awfully long time, but have become more of a lurker than a poster. I've been married for almost 18 years, we have no children, two cats and a couple of fish tanks.
Favourite Food: Whatever I'm currently eating.
Favourite color: Purple, Orange, Red
Hobbies: Cooking (obviously), baking, reading.
Person I would most like to have dinner with: Mary, Queen of Scots and/or Queen Elizabeth.

[slknight]

Name: Susan. Screen-name stands for Susan L. (middle initial) and last name. Not "silk-night."
Location: Coastal Maine
Subscription: too many to count. I'm a magazine-aholic.
Stats: Dangerously close to 40. Married 10 years with one DS (age 5.5).
Favourite Food: chocolate and peanut butter together
Favourite color: aqua
Hobbies: open-water swimming, masters swimming, reading mysteries, buying scrapbooking stuff but rarely scrapbooking
Person I would most like to have dinner with: my grandmother on my mother's side who I never met