I am a full time mom. I love to cook, bake and try new things. Reading cookbooks has been one of my (stranger) hobbies for years. I frequently use the information in the cook books to put together new flavours in the kitchen but I rarely follows recipes. Now with my husband Shawn on board and interested in exploring food and flavour and my son Ryan sometimes willing to be a taster in these adventures, the fun has really begun! Meals for friends and family, I love having everyone gather around the table for good food (I love it even more when we all gather in the kitchen first and cook together!) Holiday cookies! My Mom always used (and still uses) Cookie Monster's recipe from the Sesame Street Encyclopedia and she cut out different shapes for each holiday or season change:) We made apple butter and corn relish last fall and sucessfully canned both, at Christmas we gave these homemade gifts to our friends and family, it felt great! To many to count! Soup is one I have a lot of trouble with I always add something odd (turnip, or the wrong spice or something) and it ends up in the fridge for 2 weeks before it hits the compost bin... working on it though, someday I'll get it!