About Ellie

Good morning/afternoon/evening, whichever the case may

be.  Let me take a moment to introduce myself. My name is

Ellie and I write this cooking column which I hope you will

enjoy.  By the way, thats me over there ------------------>

In my life, (and I’m not going to admit how many years I have

stacked up under my belt) I have worn many hats. I was a

daughter, a sister, a factory worker, a wife, a mother, a

seamstress, a designer of children’s clothing, a foster mother,

a caregiver, a farmer, a member of the oldest profession (not

that one the other one) a shepherd, a market manager, a

business owner, a butcher, a baker and a candlestick maker, to name a few.

I was a ‘home economist’ before anyone thought to coin that phrase…a homemaker has to be an economist, and a pretty darn good one at that, to be the female head of household in a 9 person family. Now don’t get me wrong, my husband and I decided early in our marriage that when we had children they deserved a stay at home mother. Fortunately my husband had a career which allowed for this option. There were a few times that we wanted something for the home that did not fit easily into the family budget. When my children were in school, I went back to work

part-time to purchase those things, just until they were paid off. But the jobs I took had to fit into my “Mom” schedule. I was there for the kids when they left for school and there when they got home.  We all felt that was important.

When my youngest child was in her early teens we embarked on another new chapter in our lives which found us baking copious quantities of tasty pastries: breads, pies, cakes, tarts etc. and selling them as well as vegetables and fruit at a local farmers market on weekends. Some of you may remember us; we traded under the name ‘Eleanor’s Eatables’ at the time. We always seemed to run out of pastries by closing Sunday but often we would have some fruit and vegetables left for which we would have to find a use.

I dove back into my not too distant past when I had a passel of kids in the house and once again  began preserving these garden gifts. Thus Eleanor’s Kitchen™ was born.

Eleanor’s Kitchen™ remained in business for almost 20 years until the last of the kids moved too far away to commute and I decided writing about my exploits was a heck of a lot less physically demanding, and to be honest, a lot more fun, than lugging bushels, boxes and bags of fruit and veggies around.

I have been a closet writer for many years, now I suppose it could be said that I’m out of the closet and on the net! (I must admit it’s much less cramped writing at a desk rather than in the closet and the light out here is better too.)

Ellie

Some of you may even recognize the above picture.  This is the logo we used for many years.