I’m Michelle and you’re reading Big Black Dog, which you already know is a cooking and baking blog.

You’re probably thinking that Big Black Dog is a rather strange title for a food blog. Actually when I started blogging Big Black Dog was supposed to be about my Rottweilers. I have owned Rottweilers since the late ’70s when Rottweilers were a rather rare breed in the US and everyone thought they were really fat Dobermans. My dogs have and always will play a heavy roll in my life, so they inspired the title and like I said this blog was supposed to be about them. But I started posting recipes and got a wee bit carried away and I can’t change it now!

I live in Northern Illinois about 45 miles NW of Chicago in a semi-rural area. We have almost six acres of land with two large horse farms on either side and about two hundred acres of county forest preserve on the other. We have two big barns, a red horse barn with full mow and a smaller but taller green barn for storage and office space. I know you are wondering if we have horses and the answer is no. It’s a shame that we have this gorgeous horse barn with no horses but there’s just no time for another life adventure.

In November, 2008 we finished a complete renovation and remodel on our entire home. And when I say entire, I mean every room was gutted. It was a l-o-n-g process and as soon as I was able to settle into my new kitchen in February, 2008, I started my blog. Oh, I remember that day so well and I was so excited. I had no idea my blog would ever last this long nor that so many wonderful people would visit.

Thank you so much for stopping by. Please stay awhile, relax and have fun!