Hello my name is Marie van der Kwaak, and I am a bookaholic.  It has been 40 years since my last confession, and I enjoy the odd (half glass) of wine.  Any more than that and I get tipsy.

I live in Whangarei, New Zealand on a small farm and avocado orchard with my husband, 2 dogs, heaps of chooks, cows and sheep.

I am a little messy in my house and my housework often doesn’t get done because I am outside in the garden, or knitting something for a friend.

My kitchen table is always covered with open recipe books, my lounge always full of bags of wool, about a dozen half finished knitting or crochet projects, a spinning wheel and a knitting machine.  Its true!  Just ask my friends.

I always have about 8 books that I am reading at once, and sometimes don’t ever finish them.  The reason for that is, quite understandably I feel, another one just happens to appear in my mailbox that is more interesting.

I am a speed-reader.  I just can’t wait to get to the end, and then I am disappointed if I do finish it, because I have finished it.  Then, I sometimes read it again because I forget what it said at the beginning.

I am 50 years old, a registered nurse, and have been married to Derek for 29 years.  He is still very handsome, and is a finely tuned athlete.  Only one of those last statements is true.

I love teenage boys.  I know that sounds a bit odd and maybe a bit dubious for a woman of my age to say,  but they are so funny.  I have had 3 of them, so I know about this.

And my daughter.  She’s also funny and clever and beautiful and one of the best cooks I know.

Oscar is also a major part of my life.  He is the cutest little fluff-ball in the whole wide world, and brings much joy to my life.

I am not a gourmet cook.  My daughter says that I am a “mummy-cook” .  I’m ok with that.  I can’t be too bad, because the kids still all keep coming home for my food.  I enjoy cooking desserts and bottling fruit etc way more than cooking dinner, but as takeaway food is mostly crap (oops, sorry), a girl must do what a girl must do, and that is cook.