I absolutely love to cook and would cook even if I couldn’t eat my creations. I enjoy making deserts and meals for my husband, and I’ve even tried my hand at making dog biscuits for our furry children, Beau and Roxy---it’s great being able to make people and animals happy with the food I’ve created. Although I cooked a little here and there growing up, it wasn’t until I moved out on my own during my last year of college that I really began cooking on a regular basis. Once I started though, I found out that cooking is a true passion of mine. I very much enjoy the study of cooking, especially reading cooking articles and practicing new techniques; I’m always trying to make myself a better cook! Hmm, what do I not like to cook? :) I enjoy cooking Italian food (pizza, my favorite!), healthy food, Southern food, all things breakfast, pie, other deserts, and holiday food and meals with all the trimmings. I LOVE to bake--anything and everything--especially bread. I’m not the kind to always make the same recipes over and over, so I’m always searching for something new. There are so many dishes and cuisines out there to try! Herbs and spices are great things, too; they’re so interesting! I’m very proud of my herb and spice collection, so I really enjoy getting to use them in recipes or better yet, having to go out and buy a new piece for my collection! Also, because of my love for vino, I like picking a great wine and cooking to match. There aren’t too many family cooking traditions (except for licking the icing off of the beaters and out of the mixing bowl), but I’m working on my own. I'll update this when I've created some! My husband always likes my food, but it’s a true success when I get the “wow” reaction. I recently made my dad a birthday pie that everyone loved and subsequently devoured before he even got a piece (I made him a cherry pie too, though, so it all worked out :). And quite possibly the biggest marker of my cooking success: making chocolate chip cookies that tasted better than MawMaw’s. I once tried making a pizza crust only to have the dough not rise (I thought that 110° was a ballpark temperature for mixing the yeast and sugar with the water and not a required temperature :). Dinner consisted of a flatbread pizza that night and surprisingly, it didn’t taste too bad! Still though, I would have preferred a more “traditional” crust! I'm happy to say that I can now successfully make yeast bread!