Remembering Anna N

[weinoo]

Gutted. From our many "private" conversations, to her always sensible, often witty, and never rarely condescending comments here in "public," Anna was one of a kind.

 

Rest in Power, and may her memory be a blessing. And condolences to her family, friends, and her eG community.   

[liuzhou]

I never met Anna, but over the years we talked a lot, both on the forums and privately. I came to regard her as a friend. Although I knew she was not in a good place recently, when I heard the news about Anna’s leaving us, I felt bereaved. I don’t wish to sound overdramatic but I’ll miss her sorely.

 

She was, for me and many others here, the heart of this community. Clever, funny, knowledgable, inquisitive and always, always kind and humble beyond the call of duty. Never afraid of asking a question, to the point that I always felt happily anxious if I answered. I knew she’d come back with twenty more!

 

An inspirational woman. eG will be a lesser place without her.

 

Edited October 13, 2023 by liuzhou (log)

[Cyberider]

Will miss her posts.  Requiescant in pace.

[Smithy]

Without wanting to detract from the solemn nature of this topic, I want to call out a particularly fine turn of phrase from Kerry's post:

 

9 hours ago, Kerry Beal said:

Through all these years Anna has been my wordsmith – when we needed ... basically anything with words that needed a clean and dust – I’d send it off to her and she would send it back polished. I swear that woman could polish a turd and make it shine!  

 

That graphic inelegance has to be one of the best compliments I've ever read. If Anna's reading over our shoulders, I'm sure she's cracking up! 

[Shelby]

I always chuckle when I think about me saying something about not wanting to use my oven because I'd have to unload all of the cast iron skillets etc. from inside.  I thought I was the only one that kept stuff like that in there.  Nope.  Anna too.  She made my day when she told me she does the same 😊.

[gfweb]

Makes me very sad. 

[Shelby]

I'm doing memories as they hit me.  I think it was during a hunting blog??  I wanted fish sauce.  I bought the wrong kind--I think @KennethTlet me know that what I bought wasn't what I wanted.  It was probably @rotutsthat reminded me about Red Boat Fish Sauce that I had bought...and actually had two huge bottles of.  Anna said "Yep.  You'll buy at least five more and then you realize that you  actually have it and don't need anymore" 🤣

[blue_dolphin]

 

This is so hard.  I read @Kerry Beal's lovely post very shortly after she shared it this morning and gratefully returned several times to go down one rabbit hole after another but I still don't have the right words.  

Wit, humor and curiosity are traits I greatly value so it's no wonder I appreciated @Anna N so much.   She shared my love of cookbooks, I always thought of her when I "reviewed" one here and awaited her own thoughts.  I loved that she appreciated my sometimes quirky contributions to the Breakfast topic and I secretly enjoyed taunting her whenever I included the dreaded legume 🙃 in my first meal of the day.

 

Like @Smithy, I've been missing @Anna N greatly these last weeks but always with fingers crossed that I'd come here one day and find that she was back again.  Ah well. 

 

A better wordsmith than I, sums up my thoughts:

2 hours ago, liuzhou said:

... I felt bereaved...

...An inspirational woman. eG will be a lesser place without her.

 

 

[Amy D.]

Very sad news, I have enjoyed reading many of @Anna N's posts and blogs over the years and will truly miss her witty observations.

 

[curls]

As Kerry has said, "none of us get out of this alive" but I was hoping to see Anna back posting on eGullet. I have enjoyed so many of Anna's posts and it was wonderful to meet her when she was helping Kerry with the eGullet Chocolate Workshops. Thank you Kerry for the links, I plan to go down those rabbit holes to enjoy and remember all the stories that the two of you have shared with us. 

 

My condolences to Anna's family and friends. She was an amazing woman and the world will not be the same without her.

[JeanneCake]

I am going to miss her so very much 😢

 

Thank you Kerry, for taking care of her, and of us by giving us the rabbit holes that will keep her alive for us.  My condolences on the loss of your friend, and to her family on the loss of such an amazing person. 

[Jacksoup]

I’m still thinking about Anna N and will probably do so for years, it’s hard to believe she’s gone.  But will live one here

[Kerala]

18 hours ago, Kerry Beal said:

 

You know what they say – none of us get out of this alive. So this started out as an obituary and instead became an ode to friendship. I began with the intent of writing an epistle – instead it turned into a series of rabbit holes. 

 

@Anna N died on Tuesday the 10^th. 

 

I will not be sharing her medical information here – you will notice she never posted on “How are you Doing” thread – and she assured me if I did, she would haunt me for the rest of my days. Not that I’m afraid of her dead or alive – but hey – I respected her wishes in life and will continue to do so in death. Those of you that she was willing to let me share with know who you are and can PM me if you wish. The only thing she would be willing to let me suggest to everyone is that you quit smoking now!

 

Anna and I have been fast friends since 2006. We tell people we met online. eG’ers will appreciate that it involved Dawn Power Dissolver. 

 

“I think a bit of a backstory on how Kerry and I met is entirely appropriate as it involves eG.

I had been a member for some time when Kerry joined in 2005. I was on a topic about dishwashing detergents and bemoaning the fact that Dawn Power Dissolver was not available in Canada. Kerry PM’d me and offered to get some next time she made a trip to Buffalo. At the time, I knew nothing about her and assumed with the name Kerry that she was male. I was astounded that anyone could be so generous to a stranger and suspected some nefarious motive to find out where I lived and carry out unspeakable crimes on my person or property. (I have since learned that many eG members are incredibly generous with time, knowledge and even ingredients and equipment.)

I relented and gave my address. Kerry showed up at my door one day with said detergent. She didn’t look overly dangerous or criminal so I allowed her into my home. We talked for the next 3 hours non-stop and the rest, as they say, is history.”

 https://forums.egullet.org/topic/142785-eg-foodblog-kerry-beal-and-anna-n-2012-mixing-it-up-in-manitoulin/?do=findComment&comment=1877497

 

Anna was eG staff when we met – she did a lot of editing and such in the background for Fatguy and was always a voice of reason (not to say she wasn’t opinionated – just not inclined to share that opinion as often as perhaps she might have). She was recipe testing for a lot of authors and also editing for them when they allowed it. It frustrated the crap out of her when they wouldn't take her suggestions for edits I must admit. 

 

We started the Ladies who Lunch in 2010 to talk about the lunches we had while out and about on our Wednesday afternoon adventures. Lots of amusing stories tucked in there. The ‘cowy’ cheese is one of my favourites. https://forums.egullet.org/topic/132193-the-ladies-who-lunch-part-1/

 

One of our favourite places to go when we were lunching ladies was Winners.  One particular day Anna and I were waiting in line behind two ladies at the counter – one turned to the other and said sadly “I lost my husband last year” – Anna muttered under her breath “careless” and the two of us split a gut for the next 30 minutes straight – then again for the rest of the afternoon whenever we looked at each other. We always laughed a lot!

 

Early days we organized the first of the Chocolate and Confectionery workshops – Anna was the detail person – could not have done it without her - https://forums.egullet.org/topic/123427-reporteg-chocolate-and-confectionery-conference/

 

The second workshop at Niagara was where we both met @Alleguede - we quickly knocked the big honking chip off his shoulder and became friends. Anna called him her sibling, a difficult sibling, but a sibling none the less. I think that means they both considered me their parent? 

 

And the first time I managed to drag her off to the PMCA with me -https://forums.egullet.org/topic/144850-working-our-way-to-lancaster-pa-–-what-to-eat-in-amish-country/page/2/

 

She had a chocolate phase thanks to me – here’s one of her topics on that -https://forums.egullet.org/topic/120233-mistakes-in-the-chocolatecandy-lab/

 

Our first unofficial blog together was actually a blog apart - ‘Long Distance Cooking Buddies share their food’ since we couldn’t be the Ladies who Lunch for a few weeks. At the tail end of the blog Anna and her hubby came up to Manitoulin and stayed at the cabin out on Frier Point https://forums.egullet.org/topic/133763-long-distance-cooking-buddies-share-their-food/

 

That was June – in September it was just Anna and I – child left behind at home for school.  On the drives up to Manitoulin we would play word games and solve the problems of the world as only two women can – and laugh! Oh yeah - and decide how we would entertain our 'fans' on eG when we arrived. https://forums.egullet.org/topic/134999-sharing-a-kitchen-in-an-ingredient-desert/

 

We spent a lot of time laughing! And eventually drinking – 

https://forums.egullet.org/topic/139736-help-for-a-couple-of-cocktail-novices-part-1/

 

Then there were the Big Green Egg eggfests – where Anna and I got into some serious competitive cooking then baking – this was our first eggfest when I bought the large egg and we made the chicken tikka masala that Anna had tested for Monica Bhide – we learned a lot about timing and quantities that we perfected for  future fests - https://forums.egullet.org/topic/134923-nieggara-fest-2010/#comment-1761568

 

And the Ice Wine Festivals where true friends freeze their asses off together - https://forums.egullet.org/topic/136666-report-on-the-niagara-ice-wine-festival/

 

Anna started a boatload of topics over the years – starting in 2002 here is a link to the list of them – you can see the breadth of her curiosity and interests -  I must confess to often being the one who said – “you gotta start a topic” – sometimes because we were annoyed, other times intrigued -

https://forums.egullet.org/profile/6903-anna-n/content/page/11/?type=forums_topic

 

Through all these years Anna has been my wordsmith – when we needed a title for a topic, when I needed copy for my EZtemper ads, when I needed a CV, a letter, basically anything with words that needed a clean and dust – I’d send it off to her and she would send it back polished. I swear that woman could polish a turd and make it shine!  

 

She was always on the other end of a text when I needed information or a recipe during my travels or when I was still able to find time to cook at work. And of course we talked (and laughed) on the phone on my way into, and home from, work every day. Even those drives to and from Dunnville very early in the morning. No trouble at all gabbing through the hour up and the hour back. This I am missing a lot. 
 

So when you come back up the rabbit hole – I’d love you to share your favourite memory of Anna cause I know I’m not the only life she touched here on eG.  And if you go down that rabbit hole of her topics – let us know which one you enjoyed most. 

A wonderful tribute. I'm sad to see this, and so sorry for your personal loss.

[Kerry Beal]

11 hours ago, blue_dolphin said:

 

This is so hard.  I read @Kerry Beal's lovely post very shortly after she shared it this morning and gratefully returned several times to go down one rabbit hole after another but I still don't have the right words.  

Wit, humor and curiosity are traits I greatly value so it's no wonder I appreciated @Anna N so much.   She shared my love of cookbooks, I always thought of her when I "reviewed" one here and awaited her own thoughts.  I loved that she appreciated my sometimes quirky contributions to the Breakfast topic and I secretly enjoyed taunting her whenever I included the dreaded legume 🙃 in my first meal of the day.

 

Like @Smithy, I've been missing @Anna N greatly these last weeks but always with fingers crossed that I'd come here one day and find that she was back again.  Ah well. 

 

A better wordsmith than I, sums up my thoughts:

 

 

@blue_dolphin - you were personally responsible for enabling her to buy quite a number of cookbooks! Even when cooking became too difficult for her she would get the Kindle version and live vicariously through you! 

[ElsieD]

I had the pleasure of visiting Anna several times in her home over the last 10 or so years.  The first time I met her, I was immediately struck by her warmth and welcoming nature.  She radiated it, as few people do.  Her love of kittens and cats were on full display - a cat bed here, a cat tree there, and cat toys everywhere!  She fostered many a kitten, and loved them all.  I considered her to be more than an eGullet acquaintance, I considered her a friend, one I will miss very much.  RIP, Anna.

[Beth Wilson]

I am saddened to hear this news.  I lived on Manitoulin when Kerry and Anna came up for their epic summers.  Visiting with Kerry and Anna was some of my fondest memories on the Island and I got to enjoy some of the fabulous treats.  How they packed all their personal stuff, 3 people and the kitchen gear in a car was a mystery to me.

 

@Kerry Beal thank you for that great list of Anna's topics.  I will spend many nights reviewing them and all your Manitoulin topics to remember Anna with a large cup of tea at my side.  You were truly lucky to find such a good friend in Anna.  She was a lovely lady. 

 

Cheers to Anna.

Edited October 15, 2023 by Beth Wilson (log)

[MetsFan5]

Thank you, @Kerry Beal for sharing this sad news and sharing your memories of Anna with all of us. 
 

 Anna’s (and often with Kerry) contributions to this site have been my favorites. I was actually currently Re-reading their last blog while on Manitoulin when Kerry posted this. The honest and genuine writing about her experiences cooking and traveling and traveling while cooking that Anna shared with us has been such a wonderful resource for all of us. 
 

 My favorite posts have to be the Manitoulin ones, along with the Lunch Ladies posts. I also abhor beans of any kind!  I have saved a lot of posts to go back to! The ingenuity of tempura using a fondue pot immediately comes to my mind, as Anna seemed to always find a way to make something happen or, to borrow her phrase, she would “make a silk purse out of a sow’s ear”. 
 

My thoughts are with Kerry and all of Anna’s friends, which I am sure there are a plethora of, and her family. 
 

 She will continue to live with those of us who re-read her posts. 
 

 May her memory be a blessing. 

Edited October 15, 2023 by MetsFan5 (log)

[Maison Rustique]

Thank you for sharing all this with us so that we might know her a bit better. She leaves a huge hole in eG--things simply will not be the same without her. Many condolences for you and all her family and friends. May she rest peacefully.

[patris]

For several years, Anna accompanied Kerry on many of her trips to Buffalo for shopping, package pickup, and lunch. It was always a challenge to come up with a more interesting lunch spot than the one we last visited, but even when the restaurant was subpar, the company was always superb. As I think back on some of our more memorable visits, I concur with Kerry that time with Anna was often time spent laughing. I feel so fortunate to have been able to get to know her a bit, and like all of us I deeply admired her intelligence, wit, curiosity and genuine deep-down goodness. A few years before COVID hit, it became too challenging for her to make the trip down, and when I took a drive up to the GTA to join the original Ladies who Lunch she welcomed me into her home with figurative and literal open arms and she and Kerry and I talked about everything and nothing for hours, as if no time had passed since our last visit.

 

Kerry's visits always include trips to Wegmans and Trader Joe's, and over the years we have engaged in many gleeful hunts for things Anna needed (UHT milk for Kerry's bottomless cups of tea) and wanted (cheeses of all kinds, especially interesting blues). I don't think I'll ever look at a cheese case again without thinking of her. Truly one of a kind. The world is a little dimmer without her, but so much richer for her having been in it.

[chromedome]

I'm late seeing this. It's not entirely surprising - I had an inkling from her last handful of posts, and from the "radio silence" since - but it's deeply saddening nonetheless.

 

In one of his Flashman novels George MacDonald Fraser had his anti-hero paraphrase Donne, to the effect that if indeed every death diminishes us, some diminish us a damned sight more than others. This is one of those.

[Chimayo Joe]

I somehow missed seeing this thread until today.  Anna's posts were always worth reading. I'll miss her contributions to the forum. Rest in Peace.

[liamsaunt]

I am so sorry to hear this.  I loved reading the Mantoulin blogs, and the Ladies who Lunch.

[Kerry Beal]

So I am out with Anna’s family - thought I’d share the food 

 

 

Mikey having the goat burger - not real goat apparently!

 

 

jacked up chicken club for Mark

 

 

mixed greens and peaches with boccaccini and Buffalo chicken dip for Lynn-Marie 

 

 

pizza for Jess 

 

I stayed masked so naught for me

 

 

 

Edited October 21, 2023 by Kerry Beal (log)

[Shelby]

I'm so glad you guys got to get together.  Anna was right there with you--possibly needing a cold Aquavit refill  

[hsm]

Sad to read this news. Thank you, Kerry, for the treasury of posts to reread. I loved Anna’s Manitoulin and Ladies Who Lunch adventures. She’d make the ordinary seem special.

 

I’m looking at all the Kindle cookbooks I bought because Anna thought they were interesting. May her memory be a blessing. My condolences to all who loved her.