I was born in Bakersfield, Ca. My family moved alot, mostly between California and Oregon. I have been cooking since I was a child. My mother, grandmother and great aunt taught me to cook at an early age, for which I am grateful. Huge family meals like a chinese dinner or mexican dinner with all the trimmings. I also love to bake pies, cakes, cookies and many other desserts. I love getting together with my sisters, nieces and children to cook a large meal. Sometimes it takes days of prep work and we all pitch in. Holidays are my favorite. My biggest triumph was mastering yeast doughs. That was the one thing I did not learn from my mother, grandmother or great aunt. I have no problems whipping up a batch of cinnamon rols, bread or anything else with a yeast dough, sometimes without a recipe. My first attempt at home made cinnamon rolls, when I was about 15 years old, was a disaster. They were hard as a rock, and the only person who ate them was my father, who made his pals at work eat them too. He swore they were deliscious. I have since mastered yeast doughs and my family begs for cinnamon rolls all the time, now. There was also the first time I cooked dry beans. I didn't know i was sopposed to sort them first. My former husband hurt his tooth when he bit into a small rock. He just laughed about it,which made me feel a little better about it. I think I was about 21 years old at the time.