Cooking Without An Oven

I have decided to write a blog. Why? I've been writing most of my life and keeping a lot of it to myself. Most of my friends love my writing and say I am good at it. I love writing personal letters, poems for birthdays or other big occasions and I try to write a journal. When the muse hits me I should write it down, but I don't always do that. I've probably lost a lot of good ideas and stories that way. I've been afraid of blogging because I'm not too sure I want to share that much information about myself. But after being on Twitter and Facebook for about 6 months now, I discover that I am sharing things with others anyway so I took the blog plunge.

About the title? I chose this title after rejecting many others because I have many interests... horses, cooking, writing, football, golf, Harley-Davidson motorcycles, movies, music, travel, etc. I couldn't come up with a title that encompasses all those things. I also didn't want to be boring and just use my name. So, as I said in my little info square, I have recently moved in with my boyfriend. This is the first time I have ever lived with a guy or anyone else since my sophomore year in college back in 1989. I moved from a large, two-bedroom, fairly new apartment in the suburbs, to a small, two-bedroom, upper floor of the building his mom owns place in the city. He has a nice kitchen, but it is older and he has a stove, but the oven doesn't work. This, I thought, would be a problem for me. I love to bake... pies, cakes, cookies, cheesecake, meatloaf, shepherd's pie, roasted chicken, pot roast, pizza, etc. When I moved in, I realized I would have to give this up. I thought it was going to be harder than it was. I have learned to make a lot of things on the grill and stovetop. I have gotten used to baking cookies 6 at a time in his convection oven instead of the normal 12 to 16. It takes longer, but they taste just as good. I have used the grill more since I moved here than when I had my own house with a complete kitchen set-up. And to be honest with you, I don't miss it. Sure, I'd like to make my mother's pork chop and rice recipe, and yes, I would love to make large-scale desserts. But it's not the end of the world.

And that's basically how I have tried to live my life. I have had a lot of things happen in my life that when I first looked at it, I thought "How am I ever going to get through this?" "How am I ever going to make it?" Yet I'm still here. I have survived. I have adapted. I have learned to embrace my surroundings and make the best of whatever situation I am in. When my parents got divorced when I was 9 and we moved to New Mexico where I was the only "gringo" in class, I learned Spanish. When my step-father and mother died within 6 months of each other, I quit my job in order to deal with it. When my father moved in with me after his second divorce and then passed away, I dealt with it. When I moved to Florida and wasn't happy, I moved back to Chicago where I was happy. When I travelled all the way to England to meet a guy who then decided I couldn't stay with him for a week, I stayed in London myself and had an amazing time.

One of my best friends and I have a saying: "You can do ANYTHING for a short period of time." You can. When I moved in with Eric in February and was scared and doubtful and thought I might fail...I realized that I've been cooking without an oven for a very long time