@SheilaSouix
Mchigan resident. Have over 400 cookbooks, but to name 3 I often reference: '5 Star Recipes' (Cooking Light?), 'Pasta Presto' (Norman Kolpas), 'The Best Recipe' (Cook's Illustrated editors.) Best Recipe is a great choice as a 1st cookbook for anyone. And if you only have one, this should be it. Betty Crocker and Better Homes & Gardens are still great reference books, as they were in my Mother's day. Gardening is the current passion. Have a 25' x 50' vegetable garden, an herb garden, a cutting garden, a small berry patch (raspberries, blueberries and strawberries), 2 tulip/daffodil beds, and a lily/creeping phlox hillside. Those are the ones with some type of structure. Along trails thru our 5 acres of woods also find mini spots of lily of the valley, myrtle, ferns, foxglove and daffodils. Blackberries grow wild, and the jam is worth every thorn that gets past the leather you have to wear in order to harvest!! We've only been here about 3 years, so there is still a lot of experimenting happening, but there have been more successes than failures, so I'm happy. I'm extraordinarily fortunate in my husband who helps tremendously to make all my notions become reality, and who comes up with his own ideas, as well. The berry patch in the cul-de-sac was one of his best. Have needed to learn how to can, as there is a limit on how many freezers we wanted to own, and how many tomatoes and cucumbers we wanted to give away, or turn into compost. We've 2 dogs (a Kuvasz and a Husky), 2 cats, we enjoy wilderness camping, as well as Resort vacations. The Wyndham Viva in the Dominican Republic was great! Many advantages over a cruise.