If you could start all over agian, where would you start?

[m brown]

I have a wonderful opportunity to start again.
I have sold my shop and am looking for a new place to start professionally that will suite my family and their needs.
If you could move/work anywhere in the contiguous US, where would you go and why?
A family of boys and an envoronmentalist hubby in tow.

[Jim]

Vermont. It's green. People are friendly. And they understand food.




Did I mention good cheese?

[kuan]

Minnesota definitely. We have lots of Scandinavians here, and they bring with them the concept of allmansratten. Hey works for me.

Boundary waters, lots of lakes, good canoeing, great XC skiing, bike trails in the city get cleared before the roads, everyone drives slow, SPAM, Paul Bunyan, Lake Superior, Steelhead fishing...

[panini]

I would move near salt water. Maybe South Carolina or somewhere like that.

[shroomgirl]

I chose ST Louis 9 years ago because it is child friendly, has 4 seasons, great shrooming, wonderful resources AND the cost of living is doable.....Madison and San Fran/Berkley were the others on my short list.s

There is a gapping hole in our bakery scene, that needs filling. Monsanto and Danforth are located here so we need all the environmentalists we can get. PLUS we have lots of new farmers/growers markets......great local products....and I could use some help putting together interesting projects.....

[Salliem]

Portland OR, has alot of independant restaurants, very laid back..going to be checking it out come January 2007.

[chrose]

Check out the "Places Rated Almanac" http://www.amazon.com/Places-Rated-A.../dp/0028634470 (Borrow it from the library) that's what we used to decide on Rochester. It came down to Roch., NY, Rhode Island and Minn./St.Paul, and we chose here.
Food wise I wish we had gone with Minn.!
But the book is a lot of help in gettng a good idea of what's out there.

[Mezzaluna]

Wisconsin! Wisconsin! Did I mention, Wisconsin!?

Pete, make her listen to reason!

Seriously, we have a no-nonsense environmentalist tradition here; Gaylord Nelson, founder of Earth Day, was from here. Has your husband read A Sand County Almanac? That was written by Aldo Leopold- of Baraboo, Wisconsin. The Whooping Crane Foundation is here.... we stopped the horrible Exxon mine in Crandon.... a gazillion square miles of forests and preserves... wonderful beers, cheeses, cranberries, berries, tree fruits, maple syrup, wild rice.... two of the Great Lakes... James Beard-recognized chefs... just re-elected a governor with firm environmentalist credentials....


You get the picture. I'll stop now.

[MikeLM]

Seattle, WA.

Very liberal area. Lotta enviros.

Salt water, fresh water (Lake Washington) mountains, forests, boating, scuba, skiing, hiking mountaineering all immediately at hand. Mild climate (well, it does rain a lot.) Not much swimming, though: Puget Sound will freeze your cookies off, even in July/August.

Immense food scene.

Mike

[kuan]

If you come to Minnesota I'll give you $20 for a new coat. We need folks like you, plus, Greg's here as well.

[BigDog]

Originally Posted by kuan

If you come to Minnesota I'll give you $20 for a new coat. We need folks like you, plus, Greg's here as well.

I can chip in a few bucks too, perhaps!

More if I can ever get my personal chef business going!

[Cook du jour]

We lived in Wisconsin 16 years and it is a beautiful wonderful state -- but WAAAY too cold.

We spent five years auditioning cities around the country for a new home and Nashville came out on top. It's fun, exciting and friendly. It has a real spring and gorgeous falls. The winters are mild.

It also has sophisitication. The music industry brings in lots of people from the coasts who expect certain amenities. You get the benefits of a cosmopolitan community without the pretense.

And there's always room for another set of knives.

Good luck!

Jim

[AprilB]

WI is great.

NH is good for home based baking. One of the few places where you can actually do it from what I understand. Taxes in all respects are really great in NH also, as in none to very little...

That said, I would however need to vote for somewhere around Yellowstone Park. I've loved it there for decades and always will.

Snow? What snow?

April

[Egirl2214]

I'm Going with the MN guys even though I'm sitting here looking at the temp 28F did I say that MN is Beautiful?? It is, I would recommend it.

[nightcook]

If I could, I would find a small quite town in the mountains of southern Arizona or New Mexico. Why? They are great places to go birding year around as birding is my other passion. Right now I would fling hash and flip burgers at the local greasy spoon just to wake up in the morning and breath cool mountain air and go to sleep listening to the never-ending song of a whip-poor-will. Throw in some owls and hummingbirds and I would be one happy camper!!!


Bill
(formerly fairfieldchef)