Twelve years ago, or thereabouts, Rich, Walt, and I sat around my Maryland kitchen table during a weekend get-together, trying to define a first Internet project. The millennium was fast approaching and — in the event the world as we knew it did not grind to a halt due to faulty Y2K technology — we were ready for the sheer dot-com-ness of it all. At the time, we were tossing around ideas for beginning a science fiction web site. The conversation swirled in and out of the realm of total absurdity for several hours. Ground rules were simple: whatever we came up with absolutely must incorporate literary effort.
While cutting up a breakfast three-cheese, ham and mushroom omelet — topped with fresh chopped chives from my herb garden — Rich’s fork paused in mid air. “How about a recipe site?”
Walt sipped his coffee for a moment or two. “How are we going to fit literary effort into a recipe site?” he asked. Good ol’ Walt. Always the practical one.
“No problem,” was Rich’s response. “We’ll figure it out.”
And we did. In-between mouthfuls of omelets and sips of hot coffee, Recipe du Jour was born. It still boggles my mind that from that innocent beginning we have grown readership to thousands of subscribers. It is a humbling experience and one not taken lightly. Thank you, subscribers, for making Recipe du Jour a success. I haven’t seen Rich this animated since the day he got out of boot camp.
I also would like to thank you guys for all the articles that kept me laughing over the years. I have been with you since 1998 and always have something to tell my husband as he is getting ready for work. I would listen to this and then we would have a good laugh.
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I have enjoyed the recipes, stories, tips, tears, song lyrics, no song lyrics, song lyrics again!, from you Rich & Walt over the years too.
I feel like I watched their children grow up and move into their own lives.
But you always had and probably will have the greatest “mishap” stories! Don’t forget to include the lawnmower & bee story!
Glad you are all still hanging in there!
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Thanks, Jenny.
Good idea.
Look for my Bees & Lawnmower lesson, soon.
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And I thank you guys for coming into my home, not just as writers, but as ‘friends’. Your hard work is much appreciated.
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Thank you to all 3 of you, for all your hard work! I for one, am so glad you guys decided to do this. Looking forward to the new (blogging) as well as the old, with the recipes! Thanks again, loved all the recipes and the stories. Glad your back.
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And you, Rich and Walt have made life just that much better for all of us!
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Thank you, Rich, Tim and Walt. I feel like I have been with you for years, not quite from the beginning, though. Such good things can happen during a meal with good friends!!!!
Keep up the good work as you begin your next phase….blogging.
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Hi Tim,
Maybe I’m off on this, but I thought I subscribed to RdJ circa 1997. At any rate, I’ve been with you guys since the beginning and do appreciate your literary pieces above all else.
I seem to remember the first piece I read was about one of you, Walt I think, writing about an experience at a book shop/tea place. This resonated with me during a sort of bad patch I was going through at the time. The upshot was that I ended up subscribing to everything the three of you offered.
I have very much enjoyed hearing about Rich’s experiences in Vietnam, Walt’s ‘At the Middle Passage’, your humerous home repair stories and the science fiction story you all wrote. Most of all, I can see through all of your eyes, the natural and social enviornments that surround you, the importance of family, and how you have all grown from your efforts on the internet. Every story has been a gem
-Sheri
(abra8@hotmail.com)
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I can’t remember what I ate for breakfast this morning, much less when the three of us sipped coffee and chatted about the future up in Maryland. A couple of years of error is close enough for me. But I gotta say you’ve been with us for a while. Thanks for sticking with us through our ups and downs. There’s been a few of them scattered across the years.
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I am so glad that you are back. I have missed you…
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I sure enjoy Recipe du Jour, and I’m glad you guys came up with such a great idea!
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You KNOW I love this and have for years
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So glad you three made the decision you did – it was the right one!
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Thanks Tim, my hard drive crashed and died in January, I tried to remember the e letters I had subscribed to, somehow missed RDJ, I have subscribed again thanks to this blog post! Will be nice to see you Rich and Walt all together again. What happened to TDJ, that was one of my favorite emails.
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After 10 years of publishing TDJ 5 days a week, I put her out to pasture about three years ago. Keeping up with all the submissions and editing comments was taking more and more of my time. However, if you notice the “categories” box to the right, you will see the stirring of a new generation of tips, jokes, quotes and whatnot. A blog’s format is much more conducive to back-and-forth posts than a newsletter — and much less work for me.
You can submit tips at the top of every page.
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I know I for one, have enjoyed this literary effort ride!
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