Leggy Peggy

about me

Thanks so much for visiting my page. I get so much pleasure from Zaar and hope you do, too. In addition to cooking from this site, I enjoy being a volunteer forum host for the Asian thread. I also look after the Make My Recipe Tag Game in Australia.

One of my great joys is the many friends I know or have made on Zaar. I am lucky enough to know/met personally (or to have spoken on the phone with) MissMaggie, maid marion, Chrissyo, Jewelies, Kookaburra (and Mother Kooka), Jen T, A Good Thing, Island Gurl, RonaNZ, Snuffelump, Evie* and Pot Scrubber. And I look forward to meeting many more.

Pot Scrubber (Potsie) is a fellow Asian host. He and I get up to mischief wherever we go on Zaar. He was my Pick a Chef baby a long time ago, and I am still his Mommie Dearest. Do not be afraid when we get rowdy. Just jump in and say something to shame us.

Food is another of my joys. It’s a weakness, too, along with wine. I guess that’s why I hang out in Zaar most of the time.

I’m originally from Nebraska, but have been lucky enough to live in the Middle East, Africa, Southeast Asia and Australia (which is the place I now call home). It's been fun to learn about and cook foods from all over the world.

My Australian husband and I have two daughters, (libby12 and Petroushka), who are in their 20s, and a swag of exchange students who have become family.

We’ve enjoyed hosting (or coordinating for) a vast array of students. They have come from Belgium, Brazil, China, Czech, Finland, France, Germany, Japan, the Netherlands, Norway and Sri Lanka. It's been great for recipes and general diversity.

I can be very persuasive, so some are here on Zaar. You can check them out.
Breze
domestic god
salad slave
chicken salt
Renata the Banana
Matheus Brasil
Jelly Belly Lees
Salsa Girl
Maki Catta
Tom Terrific
louisette69
Hope I didn’t mss anyone.

Right now—November 2008—we have six people at home, including four exchange students (Louisette69, Tom Terrific and two more). Mostly, it helps to have to have extra 'hands' in the kitchen. Of course, it also means more mouths to feed.

I try to choose and make recipes that I think (based on the ingredients) will earn four or five stars. If I misjudge a recipe, I usually will not review it. Everyone has different tastes, and I feel no need to be ultra critical. That said, I have higher expectations for competition recipes, and rate accordingly.

In addition to the wealth of wonderful recipes at Zaar, I value the amazing sense of community. For the most part, we are a very a supportive and helpful group!

Favorite Foods:

My mother was a home economist (Purdue University) and let us kids have one food we wouldn't eat. I never chose one.

That said, when I lived in the Middle East, I learned it was sometimes best NOT to ask what I was eating—too much information. The beef spinal cord in Syria was excellent, but I really didn't need to know.

I was lucky growing up. Dad was the pilot for the Army Corps of Engineers and travelled all over the USA. In the 1950s, when no one in Nebraska had heard of shrimp, he would bring home a bucket of them from New Orleans. I remember the time we 'voted' that the meal was chicken. After we finished eating, he confessed that it was frogs' legs. Obviously, I should have learned the too-much-information lesson when I was 12 years old.

Also, I'm not big on sweets—give me savoury any day.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Canberra