Welcome!

What’s next? That is the question both of us find ourselves asking in this strange new world.

Karen

Not too long ago I was a burned out, frustrated, exhausted and unhealthy healthcare worker.

I constantly dreamed about taking an early retirement and all the things I could do if only I had the time. Now I find myself unexpectedly retired. So, what really is next?

At first I found myself with the overwhelming sensation that I was standing on the edge of a cliff, not knowing what to expect. Uncomfortable, but glad that I had the courage to make that uncomfortable change. Not long after, my brother-in-law Ray found himself in the exact same situation. “Let’s start that food blog”, he texted. Whoa. He really wants to do it. It’s not just a pipe dream anymore. 

We are definitely a couple of foodies. We are referred to as “the dessert crew” at Thanksgiving, but this is a big step up from that. Something that will require me to become much more accomplished, but why not chronicle my journey to becoming a much more accomplished foodie?

Thankfully, that initial feeling of possibly falling off the edge of a cliff has calmed and I am beginning to look forward to this next stage of my life. 

Ray

I have always considered myself to be a creative person but like so many other people, I found myself in a career that did not align with the image I had of myself.  For almost 26 years I worked at a college in IT as a programmer – not exactly the heart of the creative world!

I enjoyed my job for quite some time, but after several years I began to lose interest.  That feeling however was held at bay for another four years by many exciting personal life changes from marriage to the birth of my son.  After he was born, I took 12 weeks of leave to be home with him and the joy of that time coupled with being away from the office made it instantly clear to me that I could no longer ignore how I felt about my job. 

As I began to imagine a new path for myself, we figured out that I could take early retirement when our son went to kindergarten.  With that discovery a new plan was hatched and the route to that new path became clearer than ever!  Fast forward five years and with encouragement from my wife and my wise beyond his years 5-year-old, I took the leap – the time to focus on more creative things had finally come.  

Karen is right that starting a blog is a step up from our long-time status as the family Thanksgiving dessert crew, but I think in a way we have already had many years of training.  If you could compile the last 15+ years of texts we have sent back and forth, you would find that they were already like a mini food blog full of family memories, shared recipes, cooking ideas, kitchen gadgets we have discovered and real time photos of food we’ve experienced in various restaurants.

Those are exactly the kinds of things we hope to share with each of you, so pull up a chair to the virtual table and stay awhile – we are happy to have you here!