Abby Girl

about me

Welcome to my world...where life is good!!

I am originally from a suburb of Montreal and have lived in British Columbia, for the past 28 years...in the beautiful Fraser Valley. We are fortunate to be surounded by mountains and have Mount Baker (WA) as our focal point! I have two grown girls, who are quite particular in their likes and dislikes when it comes to food. My hubby, on the other hand will eat anything that I put in front of him (my honey...he is such a sweetie!)

I simply love cooking! It relaxes me...energizes me...gets my creative juices "just a mixing"! I have dreams of creating menus for friends....I write down likes/dislikes that my friends have in regards to foods...and have set up a diary of menus I have served to them (now that is just plain weird...right??!!) My husband made the biggest mistake early in our marrage. He said that if we could have 20 perfect dishes, he would be happy. Well I am still searching out those 20 perfect meals!!!! As for recipes...well, I could spend hours upon hours, just researching!!! I used to have so many recipe clippings, then spend hours sorting them out, putting them into binders....and then came computer! Well, that opened a whole new world for me!! Now I have thousands, upon thousands of recipes under specific headings so I would be able to find them fast, (yeah, right!!!!) I would love to say I still collect books, but with the 'net being so readily available I haven't bought one in a while. But...when I do look at a new cookbook, it has to have at least 5 recipes in it that I want to try before I will buy it! In the past, I have primarily found my recipes off the 'net....mostly Bon Appetit and Gourmet, but I found that I hated reading all the (bitchy?!) comments, so this form really did appeal to me. I'm always looking for the "perfect" recipe, so I do have a habit of taking one recipe and melding it with another, tweeking the seasonings, and always cutting the oils in half, then add more if I need it.

I am food sensitive and am still in the process of eliminating the culprits from my diet. I just don’t tolerate fried foods, heavy sauces, rich foods, or anything with any degree of heat (I get severe hickups). After being in France for a month, I came home with brain fog and it literally took 2 weeks to feel "right"!! So you will find that my cooking leans towards the low fat...not because it is low fat...but just because it is simple cooking at its' best. Low fat cooking has come a long way (baby!). It has taste, texture and is so way better for you. I am big on veggies, salads, fruit, grains and beans....but that is not to say that I won't indulge in the sweets, especially chocolate, (just in smaller quantities)

I have very, very sensitive skin and I find that I do not handle commercial products very well, especially soap. So about 10 years ago, I took some classes in making soaps and bath products and got hooked (in a big way) ending up with a cottage business and selling my product locally. I love making soap with goats milk and have even made soap using breast milk (absolutely wonderful!!!) As I am a true "bathaholic", I am always making up recipes for the bath! I get chills just thinking of scent combinations using pure essential oils!!! So if I am not cooking in the kitchen....I am mixing ingredients for bath products!!! (I can't seem to ever get out of the kitchen!!!)

But....when I do get out, I do volunteer work for our local Community Police. I have been a volunteer for over 10 years now. Over that time I have worked as the Block Watch Coordinator for our city, do home and business safety checks, the Child Identification program, teaching child safety from Kindergarden to grade 3 using puppets and music, or called Puppets on Patrol....and worked with the Junior Police Academy. Here we put high school students (who are thinking of law inforcement as a career) through scenarios of what could possibly happen during a routine day in the life of a police officer. It is a blast!!! I mean, how often can you be the most wicked b**** from hell....and get away from it!!! These poor kids don't know what hit them after we have finished with them!!!!!

So that is me! I am so glad that you came in for a visit. Do drop in again!!

Happy cooking!
Abby

Favorite Foods:

First and foremost: anything chocolate!!!!! I absolutely love cheese....but tend to have it in small quantities. Bread and real butter: fresh out of the oven....to die for, but that is something else that I restrict myself to!!!! We eat loads of veggies, salads, beans and I am still trying to incorporate more fish into the diet. Living on the West Coast, we get an abundance of freshly caught salmon and oysters, so we can be very spoilt at times

We also live in a valley that is huge in producing fresh berries...I can’t get enough of strawberries and blueberries, and I have “died and gone to heaven” when our local Peaches and Cream corn comes out.

One pet peeve I have is when it comes to rating recipes! I know I am guilty of changing recipes, but I do it out of necessity.....but, in fairness, I change things like oil which would not have a huge impact on the recipe. I have a hard time with people who rate recipes, but have not used the proper ingredients. When I try a recipe, I try to keep to the recipe as much as possible. If the recipes says “chili paste” I use that, and not substitute it for something like chili sauce. Why would you even want to rate a recipe that you have basically re-written!! Most people have got to know their own personal likes and dislikes...and if you don’t like anchovies, chilies, hot sauces, etc. why would you want to try the recipe in the first place??!!!

I can look at a recipe and pretty well guess if I am going to like it or not! The only time I can remember a huge, huge blunder was....many moons ago.....I made this beef roll with hot dog and all other sorts of orther weird stuff in it.... and our guests laughingly commented that they didn’t even think their dogs would have eaten it!!! Good thing I had a memorable dessert and good thing they were friends we could laugh about this with!!! To this day, there is a good chuckle at my expense!

This is now I would rate recipe:
5 star: This rocked my world!!! Memorable!!! Top drawer!!! I have to admit, I am very stingy when I give these out. So, they have to be outstanding!!! I have dreams about these recipes !!!

4 star: These are still exceptional recipes...not much/or little changes made. Family loved it!

3 star: This is a recipe where I am sitting on the fence. Did I like it or not??!! ....average...food for family nights or to use up leftover ingredients....would not serve to company.

2 star: O.K....sometimes, I goof and I really, really should have known better! Why did I try this one..possibly because it had got good ratings from elsewhere

1 star: Haven’t come across any that would go straight to the garbage bin....well, maybe once!!

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