Welcome to Dinner with Bill
Hi, I’m Bill. Thanks for stopping by.
I’m sure you are asking yourself, “Who is Bill?” and “What’s with the website?”
In short, I am a retired widower living in Southfield, Michigan. I have enjoyed a nice life with my wife Brita with whom I had two children, Eric and Lisa. In 2007, Brita contracted lung cancer and died within a short time. This is an experience I wish on no one. It is beyond my words to express the absolute and complete pain and loss I felt.
After Brita’s death, I went through the usual period of mourning, complete with guilt, depression and anger.
Throughout my life I had been taken care of by my mother, the Army, and then my wife. Now here I was—alone. To make matters worse, one of the first things I realized was how lacking my culinary skills were. For someone who has always enjoyed good food, I had absolutely no cooking skills. Not to mention, I found eating alone in restaurants singularly depressing.
I knew I had to find a practical way to make the meals I enjoyed a regular part of my new lifestyle. I had always enjoyed watching cooking shows on TV, especially Bobby Flay. So … I started cooking.
To say my first attempts were flops is an understatement. But I kept at it, and soon my skills improved and I began to feel more confident. Then I got to thinking: There have to be thousands of people out there like me—determined to eat well even though they are alone, even if it means learning to prepare the foods they love for themselves. I thought it would be fun to somehow share our stories, recipes and exploits in the kitchen.
And that was the genesis for Dinner with Bill. As I shared the idea for the website with others, I learned that there are many of you—alone or not—who are drawn to cooking for one reason or another—the sheer challenge of it, the sense of accomplishment it brings, the creative outlet it provides.
The concept for Dinner with Bill is simple. Think of it as a place where we can come together to prepare great meals, post our favorite recipes and, best of all, share good food with good friends.
Now let’s find out … “What’s for dinner?”
