I am a 28 year old dedicated wife, stepmom, and new mother of one! I have decided to take some time off since I had the baby from my professional career which has afforded me the opportunity to really experiment with some new recipes. I've been cooking since I was 9 years old and loving every minute of it. I love to have large gatherings for family and friends and prepare all of the food. It gives me great pleasure to see every one enjoying the various dishes I've prepared and makes all of the hard work worth it! I love cooking just about anything! It just depends on the mood and day of the week!...oh, and of course the time available to me (which has been seriously lessened since my new arrival) My favorite family cooking traditions are the annual family reunion where each household is responsible for bringing a dish (mine BY OVERWHELMING REQUEST, has been lasagne since my grandmother passed away in 2002) and our family Christmas brunch, where I do a 15-20 item spread each year...regardless to which relative is hosting it in their home. My greatest cooking triumph was actually getting my grandmother's lasagne recipe prior to her passing and preparing it a few times for her to taste and give her stamp of approval. Let's see...cooking tragedy would be me frying chicken and not knowing that a cast iron handle gets just as hot as the pan. So, I go to move the pan by grabbing the handle which burned my hand causing me to release the pan and the hot grease splattered all over the kitchen and most importantly, my hand and arm. I do get somewhat of a pass because I was 9 years old and just didn't know any better but was trying to surprise my mom by showing her that I learned how to fry chicken from watching my Nana. Lesson learned: Kids should always ask an adult before handling the stove so that they can be supervised. But it didn't deter me any. As soon as my arm and healed, I was back in the kitchen. But I still have a slight discoloration in my skin today.