I started cooking late in life about when I was in my thirties. Although I have a strong family background for great cooks, there were too many around for me to get a chance to do any of my own until I moved away. Now, they all gather at my table! I love to cook and I love to entertain, especially in my brand new large kitchen we just built a year ago.
My favorite things to cook
Shish Kebob, Lasagna & beef stew. Middle Eastern and Italian food. Love to cook as much as I can from scratch, pure and wholesome ingredients. I love to grill, especially vegetables, corn, asparagus, zucchini.
My favorite family cooking traditions
Kibba, stuffed grapeleaves with lamb and rice, shish kebob, tabouli, houmas. Grape leaves and kibba are a staple for our holiday dinners such as Christmas and Easter, but we also include turkey, ham, roast beef and all the trimmings. I especially love the baking of desserts, date-filled cookies, baklava, and other simple treasures.
My cooking triumphs
It's hard to pick one, but I will have to say, based on everyone's comments, it would be my lasagna. Homemade sauce, fresh ingredients, tons of ricotta and hand shredded mozzarella. There are only 8 people in the family and I usually have to make 2 trays! My second best is fish tacos. I say this only because my husband who never ate fish, requests my fish tacos. It took many reviews before coming up with my own simple, but tasty recipe.
My cooking tragedies
Salmon. Didn't taste too good to me, the spices didn't taste just right, but my guests said it was good. Chocolate chip cookies came out flatter than a pancake because I didn't add the baking soda, but just added double acting baking powder. What a mess!!!