Cookaholics Bulletin Board

so, i thought that since a lot of us have not been in touch for a long time, it might be nice to reintroduce ourselves and let everyone know what we've been up to.

so, i'm rose - 34, married last year with a baby girl named layla - only 13 weeks old. yup. had a baby in september. she's by far my greatest accomplishment in life (pic below). i thought it might be tough to keep cooking while keeping up with an infant, but i have a lot of help from my dh and now that layla is sleeping through the night, i'm almost back to my pre-baby cooking form. i'm going back to work (legal recruiting) in january (not too happy about it) and i'm determined to still cook dinner every night - even if they are meals that i make on the weekends and freeze. would love any suggestions for quick healthy meals and/or time saving tips!

can't wait to hear what everyone else is doing these days!

Good to hear from you. What a beautiful baby. You are so lucky!
Kathy

All,

I'm The Fuzzy, or Fuzzy Chef. I joined the 2nd incarnation of the CooksIllustrated Bulletin Boards in 2003 with Crystal, and made some 4000 posts on the board over the next 4 years.

Historically, I've been a potter, handyman, professional baker, bookseller, legal assistant, fundraiser, and am now somehow a famous programmer. I don't know how it happened either. Google my real name (Josh Berkus) and have fun. (if you google images, make sure you have safe search on. I have a cousin who is rather famous in gay circles)

Since I dropped off the CI boards, I also quit my job at Sun Microsystems because the company was headed down the tubes. I've gone back to consulting, the most interesting part of which is management consulting for companies who are "open sourcing" their products. I'm also working on a startup I hope to launch in January.

My wife, Kris, and I still live in San Francisco in our postage-stamp sized apartment. It's cheap, and lets me afford my pottery studio.

I also started my own food blog, the server for which is hosting this bulletin board.

Oh, and I've been travelling again.

You?

Josh,

Thanks for starting this board! I haven't been on CI mostly because I became very busy after I moved to Telluride, but also because a lot of what I considered to be the "soul" of the board just sort of went MIA...there are still a lot of great people on that board, but it just seemed to be moving in a different direction. And, I'm not a huge fan of eGullet...too big and impersonal, although I do use it for information gathering (and some networking).

When I moved here I hoped to open my shop within a year. Commercial rentals on Main St. were virtually impossible to come by, or when they did come up didn't have the infrastructure (mostly in the plumbing arena) to support my kind of business. Of course now is a completely different story...lots of empty storefronts, but I'm not going to risk opening with a business with big overhead in this economy. So, I think I might start doing some catering. In the meantime I'm feeding my gearhead addiction by working as the office manager for one of Telluride's premier sporting goods retailers. It gives me lots of time to ski, etc.

Rose, I can't believe you have a baby! What a doll! It seems like just yesterday we were talking about you getting married. What is it? Three years ago this week we had dinner?

Hope to see many current and former CIers here!

Amy

Hello, my name is Warner and I'm a cookaholic, most of you know me as ntsc, but this board requires six letters in a name so I went with my secret identity of Charcuteire (mis-spelling intentional).

Back in September, days before the bottom fell out of the market, my employer (now known as the American Bean Counting Company) decided to dispense with my services. These services were mostly sitting in an office on the phone/computer working with a Trade Association, more than one actually just not at the same time, working on methods to insure you could read as well as hear TV dialog, or that if you pluged your computer into your TV it would work as a monitor and the like.

So like everybody else in that situation I started a consulting company. The commute is great, the view out my window - well an 8 point buck wandered through last week - is much better. I haven't gotten paid for anything yet, but one of trade associations comped me on the 2009 membership, which is tax free and worth in the low four figures.

And I have time for more cooking. Right now I've a vat of stock on the stove which will get pressure canned this afternoon and tomorrow along with more cranberry sauce. Last weekend I did 20+ lbs of sausage and next weekend will probably be bread.

I'm also chair for 2009 of the New York Section of IEEE. This is a Professional Society of Electrical/Electronic Engineers, which was founded by one Edison and this section was once chaired by A.G. Bell.

Warner,

Sorry to hear about the job change...but I know your view well (as I also knew your commute) and know you're probably a lot happier...(of course, the new job needs to begin paying soon).

Amy

Hi everyone!!!! Sooooo happy to be here, and thanks Josh for doing this board.

I'm Gail, most of you know me as trinket at the CI board. Looking forward to meeting old and new friends here, and chatting food and cooking. Since retiring I've become addicted to cooking boards and blogs.

And looky, we have smilies, color and everything.

trink.

Hi Amy! Glad to hear you're doing well. I think it may have been more like 5 years ago!

I am Sunny from the "old" board, and thank you Josh for setting up this board. Along with Amy I felt that the board was going in a direction that I did not care to follow.

Not much new here, just same old, still making Marilyn's Toffee this late as all that I made earlier is gone, and I made a lot, but Jerry just kept giving it away and was then surprised to discover it was all gone...

Amy, still remember with longing those wonderful chocolates you made, especially the salt caramel...

Happy Holidays



Sunny

Sunny,

The next batch of chocolates I make, I promise to send you some...especially Fleur de sel caramels.

Amy