Food is an important part of a balanced diet.

As I was scanning through our many photos, I was struck with how many of them feature food. I'm not sure why we have felt it necessary to document our food adventures. Rob and I do like to take on culinary challenges and many of these pictures represent hours of labor. Everything from scratch, of course. I present them to you now. Enjoy the feast.

Rob became interested in Pizza many years ago. It is now a Friday night tradition during non-summer months to fire up the oven and bake us some pies. He's amazingly good at it by now.

This one is a particular favorite of mine. Strawberry creme cake. I think it was for Rob's birthday two years ago.

Here we have Rob about to commit crabicide for our crab boil. For those who don't know what a crab boil is, let me enlighten. You fill the big pot with potatos, onions, corn on the cob, crab, shrimp, sausages, artichokes, spices, and who knows really what else. There is an art to it since everything has a different cooking time. Once everything is cooked but not over-cooked, the pot is then drained and the food is dumped down the center of the table. Everyone has their own bowl of melted butter and away you go. As I am anti-seafood, much to the consternation of Rob's family, I content myself with a pan-fried chicken breast.

Here's Rob's German Chocolate cake from last year. This one took quite awhile to make. The frosting is a bit of a process. I'm ashamed to say that this year Rob got a German Chocolate from a box. We threw it away after a few bites and promised never to open another cake mix again.

Rob braved a late spring storm to make sure we had our grilled kabobs for dinner. They were worth it.

These are pitas made from my good friend Collette's recipe. I've made them a few times since then and they just keep getting better.

And finally, I have proclaimed this the Autumn of Pie. I feel it is time for me to learn how to make a really good pie crust and a stellar apple/pumpkin/any other type of filling pie. Rob has generously volunteered to judge my efforts and eat up the disasters. This pictures is of my first attempt. It's apple, and it was really good!