About

I started Flora’s Hideout in December of 1995. I had just quit my super stressful, soul-sucking job and had no idea what to do with myself so I created a web site way back when the Internet was in its infancy. I created pages that entertained me and discovered there were others who enjoyed the same interests so my hideout grew (a bit out of control).

In 1998, I graduated from grad school, left my student job, and jumped into a technical writing career. Wow…I get paid to write! No soul-sucking required.

After wading through contracting agencies and dot-coms, I eventually landed at Hewlett-Packard. I’m now a program manager at HPE. I love my job but as jobs do, work consumed me. I found myself with ZERO time to do anything (oh, did I mention I had a baby too?). My “me” time disappeared and I seemed to have missed the “start a food blog” phase of the web.

To working moms around the world…take a moment to reflect.

I started out as a recipe hoarder. Now it’s time to focus on what I truly love: writing and cooking. I want to write a bit about how cooking can be both simple and satisfying. I’m absolutely serious. You don’t need to stress about what to make for dinner or how to make it. I did that for years until I discovered that cooking is what you make it to be. It can be therapeutic and relaxing. There’s something gratifying about making something and enjoying the fruits of your labor. And if it turns out bad, that’s ok.  Order a pizza and move on to another recipe. Blame the recipe, not yourself. There’s no such thing as a bad cook.

I’m not an expert chef. I make tons of mistakes. My food is not pretty. But I’m having fun (most of the time) and cooking is my break after a long day at work. I will be sharing with you my favorite dinners with a few treats mixed in. I hope you enjoy them as much as I do.

Thanks for visiting Flora’s Kitchen!