Introduction

As Miss Betsy introduces herself she wishes to apologize in advance to any readers who come to her blog expecting down-home and folksy. Miss Betsy was born in New York City and grew up in New England , and she is not down home. In spite of this the people of Nashville- a great city known as both an Ideopolis and the new Ellis Island- have accepted her as an honorary Tennessean. For her part, Miss Betsy will tell anyone who listens that her opinion that Vermont is the most beautiful state in the union was wrongheaded. Miss Betsy is now loyal to Tennessee, and she feels Vermont and Tennessee are tied for first place. How sad it would be not to love the place you live in. And as for Miss Betsy's kitchen- it is indeed "tee-tiny", a word she borrowed from a co-worker from Louisiana, a woman far more folksy than Miss Betsy could ever be. That her kitchen is small does not bother Miss Betsy. She cooks for one, though her 2 dogs would disagree, having sampled most of what she cooks. The tee-tiny kitchen is big enough for good cooking, for reading, for writing, for looking out the south facing window at Edwin Warner Park, one of the glories of Nashville. In this kitchen three nights ago Miss Betsy continued her New Years eve tradition of Lamb. Not cooking it since she was waiting to go to work, but reading- Charles Lamb's essay on New Years Eve and the day after that he calls "the Nativity of our common Adam." Miss Betsy has loved Charles Lamb since she read his description of another clerk at the Customs House as a man whose "mind was in its original state of white paper.". Miss Betsy knows many co-workers and others who fit this description. They will not be reading this blog so she feels free to say so. She intends to devote this blog to her cooking, her library of cookbooks , her wider reading, her opinions, the city she lives in , the little "entertainments" she writes for herself, her dogs, her container gardens, and last though not least- her estate sale adventures. She has decided to devote her first real post to the "Carry-in"- that workplace fixture of the holidays that inspires dread in some and a fast trip to Krogers in others. Miss Betsy regrets this introduction must end now, but she is headed out to see "Sherlock Holmes" with a friend.