I’m a foodie – when your family owns a grocery store and your big brother is a chef … food is KING. I’m a big gal – chubby as a kid and just never really grew out of it. I love to cook – I’m not big on following a recipe exactly, so I’m not a successful baker. My only baking successes are cheesecakes. I love them and I do follow a recipe exactly when I’m taking the time to whip one up.

I’m lucky Lance likes to cook. He has gotten really good at being a sous chef and taking the reins when I can’t stand and cook for long periods of time. He likes to create and is good at it – he does a wonderful job with following a recipe. He’s THE MAN making bread in the bread machine. I have NOT had fun making bread. I mis-measured the yeast once and looked over during the cycle – the bread dough was rising OUT OF THE MACHINE. Yep I thought it said tablespoon (not a teaspoon) and put in a gargantuan load of rapid rise yeast with the stuff. The dough kept on going in the trash can too – it could have been a Lucy episode for sure.

This weekend Deviled Egg Potato Salad for 100 is on the menu. NO ONE on this earth made better potato salad than my Uncle Junior in the meat market at Kamp’s. Oh my lord it was incredible – especially fresh, right after he made a batch. I wish everyone I know and love could have spent time with me at Kamp’s smelling fresh breads and bakery goods straight from the oven mixed with the smell of meatloaf and whatever else was being made in the meat market. I can almost smell the big pickle barrel with HUGE dill pickles sitting in the aisle in the middle of the store. Our grocery store was a MAGICAL place and I miss it so. My best memories took place there and I met the kindest, most loyal people who were my family, not just employees. Ahhh – the life and the food.

I’ve already told my buddy Kathryn that she’ll get her own bowl. Let me tell ya, having a neighbor a door away that loves to cook (especially bake) is the BEST thing ever. She is the best baker I know – plus we really could be sisters separated at birth because we are so much alike.

Gotta go – there is a lot of potato peeling and dicing that needs to be done. I’ll report later –