I am a new bride, and it only took me a few weeks to learn just how far good home made cooking can do for my husband. I am currently the cook at a local Tea Room, and am anxiously awaiting January when my husband graduates we plan to move to Atlanta so that I can go to culinary school. Even though I work full time as a cook, I spend about 50% of my time at home in my kitchen also. It never gets old. I cook/bake when i'm happy, sad, lost, bored etc; it's what I love to do. I am no where near an expert, but I learn something new everyday. I absolutely LOVE to bake. Although I am health conscious and don't eat much sugar- i usually give what I bake to co-workers, friend, neighbors etc; I love making cakes, cookies and pies. I am told that the best thing I make is my apple pie. My Grandmother passed down the recipe to me when I got married, and it's been a good friend to me. I also love Italian and Mexican food. I make different sauces, and am eager to learn to make Pasta from scratch. Growing up Italian in NY, we ate Italian for almost every meal. Our big tradition for Christmas was Antipasto, seafood, and spaghetti with my Grandma's famous meatballs, and my Grandpa's famous sauce. About 5 months ago I decided that I wanted to start making bread instead of buying it, so I got out the machine, dusted it off and want to work. The bread kept coming out funky- it would either be hard as a rock or falling apart, I just could not seem to get it right so I decided to try to make it from scratch. After about 3 OK loaves, I made the perfect batch of bread. It was great, and didn't last a day in my household. Now every Sunday I make a double batch of whole wheat bread and freeze the other. We have not bought bread since. My husband is so proud of my so called cooking skills, and likes to talk me up to every one we know (sweet right? not always to my advantage though). About a month ago we had our new neighbors over or dinner- and he had been telling them all about my wonderful cooking for a few weeks of course. When they arrived I had a Shepards pie, a loaf of cornbread, and peanut butter cookies in the oven. We live in an old apartment with an old oven that doesn't cook right, and I noticed the bread was browning on the outside and not cooking in the middle so I decided to leave it in the oven longer and sit down and chat. I got distracted when our company had to tell me that something was burning- I had left a potholder on the stove with an eye on and it caught on fire. While I was putting that out I realized the bread might be done, so I opened the oven and the bread was well done and I had also left the cookies in there- they were black crumbs by this point. I was completely embarrassed.