I’m a late-middle-aged, married Nashville woman who never really learned to cook. The skill, itself, is as far beyond me as mastering guitar or fine portraiture: contrast strum in C and paint-by-number.

I actually tried to teach myself baking from cookbooks as a child. That was a rather dismal failure, since nowhere did the auther feel the need to mention that there was a difference between a measuring cup and a teacup or between a teaspoon and an iced tea spoon. When I finally discovered the sort of cookbook that included essays along with the recipes, it was love–and light. That first encounter was a jewel: Vibration Cooking: or The Travel Notes of a Geechee Girl by Vertamae. (That was all it said on that old edition. Nowadays, when she has shed her hippie ways a bit, she is Vertamae Smart-Grosvenor.  You might know her from NPR)

Truth to tell, I’d rather be waited on. Eating out is my pleasure, my vice. Since I quit smoking and slacked off on my drinking to a beer in a blue moon, there is nothing but the odd lottery ticket to keep me from being dull as wallboard.

It seemed like a good idea to catch recipes I notice online and put them somewhere. And maybe if I see something simple that just begs to be saved. Might throw in my own capsule restaurant reviews, just for kicks.