Meal planning for a family of five is never easy, but imagine doing your grocery shopping in a country where you don’t speak the language, and many of the foods are unfamiliar to you. That’s what happened to Abby McAllister when she and her husband, Harley, left Valleyford to teach school in the Dominican Republic three years ago. Her experience prompted her to compile a cookbook, “Familiar Tastes in a Foreign Place.” How the family got to the Dominican Republic from Valleyford is a tale in and of itself. “I didn’t even know where the Dominican Republic was,” McAllister confessed in a recent phone interview. “I thought it was near the Philippines”/Cindy Hval, SR. More here. (Courtesy photo: Abby McAllister, her husband, Harley, and their three children moved to the Dominican Republic in 2010, which led to her cookbook, “Familiar Tastes in a Foreign Place”)

Question: Are you a cookbook/recipe type cook or do you prefer to wing it?