I’m a stay-at-home mom-mom (sounds better than recently retired, don’t you think?) who loves to spend time in my kitchen. My husband is my chief taste tester…. our children and grandchildren are my seasoned samplers. A gathering of family and friends, enjoying a variety of my prepared food, is my idea of a good day.
I am so fortunate that I was able to retire early to hang out with my already retired husband. We have three grown children who have all settled, with their growing families, in our home state of New Jersey. Being able to spend more time with all of them has truly been a gift.
(Added April 2019: Our son has recently moved to California with his wife and their two young sons. We miss them terribly as we used to visit with them pretty much on a weekly basis. We are thrilled for them as they settle down in such a beautiful area. We intend to be traveling quite a bit in our quest to be the best bi-coastal grandparents ever!)
My background includes experience being a stay-at-home mom with my children until they were ready to attend elementary school. At that point, I worked at the local bank for about eight years. It was a perfect fit …being close to home while my kids were still on the young side. My husband was a high school Physics teacher and he was thrilled to be the parent in charge during summer and holiday breaks. As time went by, I felt it was time to test my wings and try something new.
I always had an interest in working in the travel industry. I signed up for classes at a local travel school a few nights a week and before I knew it …I was a corporate travel agent with Rosenbluth International. After about a year of gaining valuable experience working with corporate clients, I was offered a position to work at NFL Films as their on-site agent. It was perfect timing. My kids were older by then. The hours were long at times (especially during the football season) but I found the work to be challenging and rewarding. I traveled to ten Super Bowls and was even fortunate enough to work in Hawaii countless times when the Pro Bowl was hosted on Oahu. Because of my position, my husband and I were able to travel quite a bit and we truly enjoyed it. After about ten years, I once again decided it was time to move on.
I had this crazy idea that I wanted to start a gift basket business. I had the best time shopping for inventory and creating various themed gifts. My son, the computer guru, designed and set up my awesome website. He took all of the amazing pictures. So, as it turns out the timing couldn’t have been worse. I was shipping gifts all over the country and had quite a few customers that repeatedly ordered from me. The problem was the current state of the economy. We were in the recession of 2008 and, as you can imagine, it didn’t turn out as well as I had hoped. After a few years of hangin’ in there, I decided to maybe look for something part-time at the local bank I had worked for all those years ago. So the part-time position turned out to be full-time. And of course, at that point, the gift orders started to pick up considerably. Go figure, right? Before long, I realized that it was time to shut down my online business so that I wouldn’t be working until midnight filling orders! So anyway, I ended up working at that local bank for the next five years, before formally retiring. Sort of like coming full circle, don’t you think?
As you can tell from my story, I have no formal training in the world of professional cooking but I can assure you that the recipes featured on this site are tried and true. Some are handed down through my family while others are shared by good friends. Then there’s my personal cookbook collection. I confess to having a bit of an issue when it comes to a beautifully illustrated cookbook. Enough said on that… you will always know the source of my inspiration.
Food prepared in the home has always been my preference but I don’t object to a shortcut here or there. If the Italian bakery down the street is willing to sell their pizza dough, sign me up. On a busy day, I’ll be first in line to purchase some basil pesto from the local organic market. It’s all about enjoying the process without stress.
I’m always on the lookout for good gluten-free recipes. I also love to experiment with my favorites to see if the recipes can be converted to a delicious gluten-free version. You see, several family members have recently realized that they are sensitive to gluten and do their best to avoid it. My young granddaughter has actually been diagnosed as gluten intolerant. When we all get together for a family meal, I feel such joy in being able to tell my granddaughter that she can eat everything on the table.
Along with my adventures in the kitchen, my passions include traveling, reading and crafting. Above all, though, the best of times are those spent with family and friends.
Thanks for stopping by. I’d love to hear from you with any questions! Or suggestions!
You can always reach me at rosestelmach@yahoo.com. Or simply leave a comment on any of my posts.
Hope you’ll continue to visit!