Beach resident fuses food, passion and cyberspace

By Jennifer Jiggetts
The Virginian-Pilot

Richard Rowand has many loves. There's his wife of 32 years, Susan. And then there are his two children and three grandchildren.

The Virginia Beach resident also loves writing, food and writing about food. And that's something he has managed to turn into an online hobby.

He and a couple of buddies are the forces behind www.recipedujour.com, a Web site that, as the name promises, will deliver recipes to subscribers by e-mail six days a week. It's a go-to place for family-style, everyday recipes, say corn chowder, pot roast or sweet potato pudding.

Rowand, 57, Walt Mills, 57, and Tim Lee, 58, all aspiring writers who went to Norfolk's Norview High School, started the site and keep it lively with recipes, food chat, cooking tips, slice-of-life stories, columns, even entertainment reviews. Its reputation has spread worldwide with about 25,000 subscribers in places such as Singapore, Zaire and Israel. Many are in Australia and New Zealand, Rowand said.

Subscriptions are free.

When the trio first began talking about creating a Web site together, they leaned toward a science fiction project because all three grew up with a love for the genre. At one time, Rowand worked for a local-based sci-fi magazine called Starshore. When they discovered that the Sci-Fi TV channel already had a Web site in the works, they brainstormed other ideas.

Rowand considered doing one about his grandmother, but then thought he'd run out of ideas and stories to post, he said.

It was over a shared breakfast of ham, cheese and mushroom omelets that inspiration struck. "How about a recipe site," Rowand asked Mills and Lee.

The conversation, as told on the Web site, went something like this:

Mills sipped some coffee and thought. "How are we going to fit literary effort onto a recipe site?" he asked.

"No problem," Rowand said. "We'll figure it out."

That was that.

Since it began, Recipe du Jour has grown to also include Dessert du Jour and Tip du Jour, which, as their names imply, offer up daily dessert recipes and cooking tips.

The guys get together yearly, said Rowand, whose "day" job is as an estimator for Montgomery Doors in Virginia Beach. Since Lee, a photographer and writer, lives in Lake Gaston, N.C., and Mills, a research editor, lives in Maryland, they maintain the site long-distance through e-mail.

Rowand said he works about 10 hours a week on the site, which operates on subscriber donations and money from their own pockets. Although it hasn't made make them rich, it is fun, Rowand said. "When you have people who become loyal readers, it gives you an ego booster."

Rowand, a New Jersey native who's been writing since second grade, said his literary skills have helped the effort, and vice versa. He was editor of both his high school newspaper and literary magazine, and co-editor of his college newspaper in Florida. He also is a member of the Oceanfront Writers Group in Virgnia Beach.

He likes to cook, usually on weekends, with ribs and pork being his favorites.

His Recipe du Jour column musings roam all over the place. A few years ago, he wrote a popular weekly column on his experiences in the Vietnam War, which resonated with readers, especially veterans, he said.

A day's e-mail offerings contain recipes he collects from magazines, the Internet, cookbooks and other sources. There also may be a mini movie review, even song lyrics (the words to "Heat Wave" by Martha and the Vandellas showed up one day last month), as well as cooking tips. For instance:

n Use chicken broth instead of water to cook rice because broth flavors the rice.