I am a full-time staff person in an accounting position while also a part-time student pursuing an accounting degree - and of course, a full-time husband to a very special person! :) Our lives have been hectic over the past year or so, but now we're in the calm, and I'm hoping to quit eating out, and cooking in. Colorful things. I like a good presentation. To me if the food doesn't look good, it probably won't taste good. I like lots of ingredients with lots of color. There was always cooking going on in my Granny's kitchen. But everybody always brought something on special occasions. There may have been some family disagreements, but I don't know if I ever heard a family member give negative feedback on any of the dishes. When I finally learned how to not be so strict with recipes. In the very beginning, I would be very stringent with measuring and the exact ingredients. Now I feel comfortable enough to add, delete, expand, divide, and conquer! Okay so I still measure on things that will totally ruin a recipe (ie vinegar). hahahahaha. Ok so this was my first time making chicken marsala. I had the chicken breasts all beaten to death, and the had them cooking just so...and now was the time for the great marsala sauce to be in the mix. I was somehow distracted in my mind, and somehow read that the recipe called for about 3 cups of italian seasoning herbs. I read it three times even...and I went with it. I dumped three cups of italian herbs on top of the chicken, and immediately knew I had messed up. My wires somehow got crossed and I totally missed that I needed Marsala wine, and that is what I needed 3 cups of... I had no wine, the hubby had no chicken, we ate out that night. Redemption: I now can make one heck of a chicken marsala and garlic smashed potato dinner!