@pennypacker6
I live with my husband and Italian mother-in-law on 80 acres in upstate NY. 11 miles from the nearest town and very rural. But very beautiful! I've always had a large garden and at one point raised most of our food. My two children are grown and I am getting lazy so don't grow/can/preserve/freeze nearly as much as I used to. We also have gone from "old macdonalds farm" to 5 horses, 4 cats, a dog and lots of wild deer and geese. I have a weakness for cookbooks and have over 400 so far. And I can say I have cooked recipes from all of them. I read them at times just for the fun of it. One of my faorites is Stephanie Alexander's "the cook's companion" (picked up in Perth last year). Other favorites: Nick Malgieri's "How to Bake", anthing Moosewood (we eat there often), "The Cake Bible" by Rose Levy Beranbaum, "The Essential Cake Decorating Guide", "The Art of Indian Vegetarian Cooking" by Yamuna Devi, and an old and well-used "Mastering the Art of French Cooking" Life is good.