Remembering The CLBB

We had quite the boring day here at The Waz Household.  Our hot water tank blew out yesterday, and today our landlord was here most of the day to put in a new one.  As I had no hot water, I wasn’t doing any cooking or cleaning, so I spent a bit of time reading, and then sat at the computer for a bit to do some internet browsing.  Eventually the day got away from me and I decided that tonight’s dinner was going to be waffles, only I couldn’t find the current favorite recipe.  No problem, I’d found it on the Cooking Light Bulletin Board and I could go there and pull it up speedy quick.  I have dozens of recipes like that, that I don’t really have written down anywhere because I can always find it later at the CLBB.

Only, it turns out that way of life was a luxury.   As of next Monday, September 19, the Cooking Light Bulletin Board will cease its existence.  The company that owns the forum gave just a two weeks notice, and I immediately thought of how thankful I was to need that waffle recipe today, or I might have logged onto that bulletin board a week from now and been flabbergasted by the new hole in my internet.

And it IS a hole.

I have so many delicious food memories from that bulletin board.  I’ve found so many good recipes that were shared by fellow boardies!  I learned so much about cooking in my early days from the people who frequented the forum.  And the relationships through the years, though virtual, were still very real.  We’ve walked through so many things as a community- births, deaths, cancers, remissions, diet struggles, diet achievements, contest winning, career changes, marriages, divorces, kitchen fires, new homes, adoptions… You name it, we experienced it.  And we shared it all amidst the recipes for almond roca, tortilla soup and lindrusso’s marinara magnifica.  It was LIFE.

I am grieving tonight that this community will actually be going away.  This is a genuine LOSS for the internet.  While I have not been particularly active the last few years, it was like a comforting casserole that I could go back to when I had a hankering.  It was always nice to pop in and see who was around, check out a few new recipes and look up that old one once again.   I can’t tell you how many times over the years Andy and I would have a discussion, and in the end I would pop on over to the CLBB to see what “the ladies” had to say.  (Which of course, included a few men as well.  Bobmark, Handyman, Gumbeaux and Hammster were regular posters who I remember fondly.)  Who needed google when you had the CLBB!?

We won’t have that anymore, and I dare not think of the WEALTH of life knowledge that will vanish when the website is taken down later this week.

And yet.

And YET.

Despite having just two weeks notice in advance of the shuttering, a few of the faithful have come together to create a new community out of the remains of the old one.

This is HUGE.  And there is SUCH potential here.  One of the things that has plagued the Cooking Light BB for some time is the great influx of spam that comes with an international audience.  Our friends have taken away that part of the equation and what remains is a community of people with a passion for cooking and sharing that cooking with others.  And so a new community rises out of the old community, and guess what my friends!  There is room at that kitchen table for YOU too!  Anyone can join, and it just takes a moment to register and request admittance to the group.

The Great Food Forum

If you were an old CLBB member, we’d sure love to see you! You can join up with your old CLBB username or create a new one, but please check in on the roll call thread and say hi!

If you are not an old CLBB member, oh, how wonderful it would be to launch this new community with some new members who simply enjoy great food.  Please join us at The Great Food Forum and join a community that has been around for over 16 years and refuses to go down with the ship.  We’re taking the ship to bigger and better places, and I hope you’ll join us for the journey.