About Me

ABOUT ME

Why I built this Website

Let me tell you a little about me, my family, and why I decided to build this website. After reading my About Me Page, please sign up for my

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My name is Susan Merrick and I was born in 1953 in Plaquemine (pronounced Plack-a-man), Louisiana. Years ago, Plaquemine was a very busy small town. It had an all important train depot where travelers would board a passenger train bound for New Orleans or to other locations in Louisiana to the west. In fact, the town of Plaquemine actually was built around the train depot. The train tracks run through the center of downtown.

Plaquemine also had the only locks on the west-side of the Mississippi River, which connected the River to Bayou Plaquemine. All these bayous are inter-connected to each other, which at the time was a major importance to interstate commerce and travel.

LA 1, which is the highway that runs from north to south through town all the way to New Orleans, had a draw bridge over bayou Plaquemine. The train tressel also had a draw bridge over the bayou. This is an indication just how important water travel was to the commerce of the state.

Today, the locks have been closed and relocated a few miles north to Port Allen. The draw bridge over Bayou Plaquemine is now a solid bridge, as well as the train tressel. The train tressel still has the huge ballast attached to the tressel, even though they are inoperatable.

Plaquemine is an old Indian word meaning Persimmon. We live on the west bank of the Mississippi River, across the river from Baton Rouge.

When I was a young child the only way to cross the river to get to Baton Rouge was by ferry. Today you just get on the interstate and seconds later, you are across the bridge.

Where It All Started

I was the second of four children and at the time I was the only girl. My youngest sister was not born until I was fifteen years old. Some of my chores were dusting and sharing kitchen cleanup with my brothers. When I got my chances though, I loved helping my Mom in the kitchen.

I began my kitchen education at the early age of seven helping with all sorts of baking duties, cooking and keeping the kitchen clean. My Mom was well known in our town for her baking abilities. She baked and sold her fair share of cakes, pies and pralines (pronounced praw-lenes). Her pralines were the best though.

She used an old family recipe that had been handed down from my grandmother on my dad's side of the family. When I reached my twenties I started entering baking contest at the local fair when it came to town.

I won a lot of blue ribbons with my version of our families pralines. Praline is the name for 'pecan candy.' Then I began to enter other contests farther away in other towns and Parishes. I do not want to sound like I am bragging, but I did win a lot of first, second and third place ribbons at these venues. It seems I inherited my mothers passion of baking, and making candy became my expertise.

Every year I get dozens of requests for our families secret recipe of pralines. I am sorry, though I can not do that. It belongs not just to me but to my family. I no longer enter these contests. I just do not have the time. But I will still put my pralines up against any other ones made and dare to be beatened!

My Schooling

I attended the Culinary Art Institute in Baton Rouge where I became a Pastry Chef. It is so easy for me and comes as second nature to on the spur of the moment to just whip out a cake, pie, or any pastry of my choosing. I love to bake and no job is too hard or tedious that I get overwhelmed. A lot of my culinary talent I believe comes partly from my education and partly from my mom and dad. My love for the kitchen runs deep in my heritage. I learned from both my parents the art of preparing good food.

My Family

My husband's name is Ken, and together we have five grown children. My husband is a printer by trade and operates a big Web press. I met my husband in 1998. Ken is from Texas and lived in Irving, Texas, which is located immediately to the west of Dallas. I moved to Texas to live with him.

I went to work at DFW Airport in Irving, Texas, at Au Bon Pain French Bakery. Being a Pastry Chef, I was well equipped with all the necessary experience to be the night manager of two stores in the Airport. We expanded our business enormously and set many sales records.

My biggest contribution to Au Bon Pain was my ability to present all our products in our display case. Depending on the time of year, I would present our food in a theme of which ever holiday was approaching. This display was enjoyed by not only the travelers in the airport (the core of our business), but also by the airport employees. We made huge advances in sales by these displays compared to sales before our themed-based displays.

Working at an airport that is as large and busy as DFW, the job is extremely stressful from the chaos that is associated with security, weather and air traffic. Then 911 happened! The course of normal business operations at the airport was changed forever.

After three years at the Airport location, it was beginning to take a tole on me. I transferred to a new store location in downtown Dallas, Texas, at the Cresent Hotel. I became the official Baker at this new store. I was extremely happy to be in this new store, away from all the chaos and stress of the airport. Working at the Cresent Hotel was a perfect world. I was able to work in my niche of being a Pastry Chef. We catered to the extremely rich, well to do business clientel of Dallas. We lived there for five years in Texas.

I was beginning to worry about my parents since they were getting up in years and getting more feeble. We lived in Texas until 2003, when we decided to move and relocate to Louisiana. That way we would be close enough to my parents in case anything bad should happen. Ken has been a printer most of his life so he was able to get a job right away in Baton Rouge.

Even though Ken is from Texas, he has adjusted and taken to the rural living here in Louisiana quite well. He is not so adapt in the kitchen; although he is pretty good with an outdoor pit. We are now empty nesters and enjoy spending time relaxing with friends and family and cooking and eating.

My Heritage

My parents were born and raised in the heart of Louisiana. Life back in those simple days most people were reared in one of two places, either in the swamps or on a plantation. I had the fortunate life of having both of these worlds taught to me as I grew up.

My mother was raised in Bayou Chene, (pronounced Bye-you- shane) a swampy region of Louisiana that is now usually under water most of the time. This area is designated for flood control of southern Louisiana. In Bayou Chene, there were no roads. They traveled by way of a pirogue, (pronounced pe-row), which is a small Cajun boat.

They hunted wild game, fished, picked wild berries and herbs. She grew up learning how to prepare all of these foods for her large family, brothers, and sisters.

They were a very close-nit family, where everyone contributed and helped each other. She lived a simple life without electricity or telephone service for most of her childhood.

My father grew up on an old sugarcane plantation in a large family also. My grandfather was the overseer of the plantation where they grew several kinds of crops and raised cattle, pigs and chickens.

My grandmother learned how to cook and prepare these foods from the black women that also lived on the plantation. Everyone took care of each other.

Mondays were designated as laundry days, where the women would put on a big pot of red beans and while the beans simmered, the women would complete the laundry chores. That is where the Louisiana tradition of "red beans on Mondays" started.

It was during World War II that by chance my parents met each other. My father was home on leave from the navy and my mother was a waitress at one of the local diners close to the train depot. It was love at first sight and soon after they were married.

My mother learned from my dad's mother how to bake and making candy. It is from these lessons that my abilities come from and what makes my love for baking and pastries what it is today.

In Conclusion

Baking as well as cooking food does not have to be a job that you dread to do. Certain techniques make this chore actually enjoyable and food more consistent and taste better.

With practice it becomes more of an art form and you will receive more praise and admiration from others. It is said, 'It is better to give than to receive.' When it comes to food I believe this and my satisfaction came from hearing my children as they were growing up repeating over and over while they ate, "hmmm this is so good momma."

Why a Website?

My husband had suggested a while back that I should consider becoming a teacher for others to learn the art of properly preparing and cooking food. He said from the first time he met me he was in awe at how fast and how amazingly good the first meal that I ever prepared for him had been. That was over ten years ago. Gee how time flies! So it probably is true that to a man's heart is through his stomach!

He said it is a shame that all my talent is going to waste without showing everyone the benefits of cooking and baking like I do. He wanted me to stay home and not have to commute back and forth to work. It was a fabulous idea, if not just fantasy.

The trouble was, I did not know the first thing about building a website. What would I say? What would I name this website? I began reading things like Domain names, hosting, auto responders, niche marketing, keywords, search engines, and the list goes on and on.

But how can someone stay at home and earn an income at the same time? Where does one start at getting on the web and succeeding? How would I integrate all of these things I read about into a successful website? I started researching the web to learn more but it was becoming information overload.

My husband had warned me about all of the get-rich-quick schemes that are prevalent on the web and for me to be careful. It has taken me a while looking and searching to locate a real legitimate company that offers everything we were looking for.

That is when I found out about this man that has everything all wrapped up in one package. His name is Doctor Ken Evoy of Site Build IT. His package or philosophy is for me to just concentrate on providing good content, and he will take care of all the rest. He explains that there is no such thing as a "get rich quick" internet business.

This is my dream come true! I am not a computer geek by any means. I can barely retrieve my E-mails.But to have a successful company provide me with research tools, a website block by block building ability, and support all in one deal, what did I have to lose?

Site-Build-It, or as it is known to all of us 'insiders, SBI, has the capabilities for anyone to build a successful website. No matter what your expertise may be, doctor, construction laborer, or a housewife. Dr. Evoy's daughter even built a website, on her own, which happens to one of the top searched websites about travel to the Caribbean. My husband said if a teenager can do it, why can't we do it too?

So with that attitude, we decided to do it. I must tell you though, it does require some work. It does require some thought. After all, you are building a business. No business becomes successful without some work, or thought, or by accident. To make my long story short, if I can build a Website, so can you with Site Build It!

If I can build a Website, so can you with Site Build It!

If you want to learn more about the joys and thrills of having your own website, just click on the link, Site Build It, at the bottom of the page. The short video clip will explain to you in easy to understand language on how you can build your own website, just like me! What ever your niche may be, hobbies or your current business.

Need extra income? Need to stay close to home? What ever reason it may be...contact me from my Contact Me Page for more information on how you too can get connected to the web by having your own website. If you have any questions or comments, please complete this form. I am looking forward to answering your request,
Sincerely, Susan Merrick, Pastry Chef.

Site Build It!

Let me tell you about why I am so glad that I have this website. I have only had this website live on the Internet since April, 2008. But since then, I have been able to reduce the hours that I had to work at my job, to make ends meet. My website now is beginning to open more doors for me through the sheer volume of people, vendors and customers, that the Internet is able to reach.

With more time at my disposal, I get more things accomplished at home, as well as my business and my regular job. I am not as tired as I once was, and I am much more happy too. With the Internet growing at over one-thousand new websites a day, I am so thankful that I, through the help and guidance of SBI, have forged a place in this high-tech, fast-paced, society. As my popularity increases, soon I will be able to say "Goodbye" to my regular job forever. Like it is said on the popular TV show, "Extreme Makeovers", I will be saying, "Welcome Home Susan, welcome home!"

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