<table cellspacing='0' cellpadding='0' border='0' ><tr><td valign='top' style='font: inherit;'><P>Siarlys</P>
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<P>"Quick note to Kateinmo: There is a couple living in my parents' building<BR>who have a similar situation to yours. They were both widowed, both had<BR>children, neither wanted to disturb various financial and inheritance<BR>arrangments viz. their existing families. They found a church willing to<BR>bless their union, without expecting them to get a license from the<BR>state. Of course the Puritans did not have church marriages, they<BR>considered marriage purely a civil matter. But I like the general idea.<BR>Statistically I agree with Lance, but every individual situation is<BR>unique."<BR></P>
<P>Works if one or both persons is/are religious, which we are not. We are spiritual, but not religious. My daughter had a civil marriage at the courthouse, but considers her real marriage to be the service in a friend's back yard officated by another friend, spiritual but not religious. </P>
<P><BR>"Being that I am single, at least until a lady who works too much to even<BR>drop by for more than an hour or two a week agrees to marry me, and I<BR>don't care to eat out much, at least not without her, I do cook, have<BR>cooked most of my life, started learning at age six (my father always did<BR>breakfast in our family), and I am very good at it. My specialties<BR>include Chicken Kiev, omelettes, cottage cheese onion dill rolls, roast<BR>beef with yorkshire pudding, and my mother's Danish Pastry recipe; for<BR>more every day fare, I can do several things with beef, pork, ham,<BR>turkey, and of course ground beef. For veggies, I prefer frozen corn,<BR>peas, or green beans, fresh green pepper, carrots, celery, lettuce.<BR>Details available if Jeanene tempts me.<BR><BR>One difference between me and greenBubble is that I dont' use a crock<BR>pot. I am often tempted to pick one up cheap at a rummage sale, but then<BR>I ask, when would I ever use
it?"<BR><BR>RE the lady who works too much...give her time, be patient, continue to be with her as much as you can. My husband took several years to decide if he wanted to be in a serious relationship with me (or anyone else) and I nearly gave up on him several times, but he was too good to pass up! <BR></P>
<P>Can we get details of your cooking repertoire even if we're not Jeanene? I'd love to have your recipes for cottage cheese onion dill rolls and your mother's Danish Pastry recipe. </P>
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<P>And when would you ever use a crock pot? Pop some stew beef into it in the morning, dump on a chunked onion or two, a couple of carrots cut into 3-4 inch pieces, some thickly sliced celery, a can of tomatoes with the juice, a few mushrooms, a cup of red wine or a cup of beef broth, and salt, thyme, basil, dry mustard, and pepper to your taste, cook on low for 5-8 hours. When it's done, ladle off as much liquid as you can and slowly whisk it into a couple of tablespoons of flour, then pour it back into the crockpot, stir it in, turn the crockpot onto high for a half hour, and voila! Dinner and lunch for two for several days, or freeze in serving size portions. </P>
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<P>Or put in a chicken with a half cup of water or chicken broth and seasonings that you like, turn it on low, come back 5-8 hours later, and again, dinner or lunch for two. Bet you and your lady who works too much would like either of these. </P>
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<P>I have a veggie chili that gets raves when I take it to pot luck dinners. Will share as requested. </P>
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<P>I am the fifth child of seven, and my mom and older sisters did all the cooking. I didn't learn to cook until I moved into an apartment with roommates when I was 19 and we rotated cooking weeks. My poor roommates! They didn't eat very well during my cooking week for the first six months, except under their tutelage. Then I discovered cookbooks, and I'm addicted to them to this day. I read them like some people read novels. My all-time favorite is the 1964 edition of Joy of Cooking and a close second is The New Laurel's Kitchen. I've requested the most recent edition of Joy of Cooking as a birthday present. Laurel's bread book taught me how to make superb 100% whole wheat bread successfully with the aid of my trusty Kitchen Aid mixer (can't knead bread dough with my arthritic hands). And one of my recipes is published in The Red Hat Society Cookbook. </P>
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<P>So, shall we start a GCFL-Discuss Recipe Collection? </P>
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<P>kateinmo</P></td></tr></table><br>