Good food runs in my blood, at least recently. My mom refused to serve us tuna dogs and cows tongue, the stuff she grew up on, and found varied ways to prepare delicious and healthy food. (Thanks mom!) She now works for a catering company and my brother is a professional chef. I'm opening my own small catering company providing sack lunches for local businesses. I worked my way through college as a server and bartender. My love of food continued to grow, so I ditched my psychology diploma and career and am trying to cook full time. I love all things food and sharing it with my friends and family. I have a passion for vegetarian cuisine. There is so much variety and color. I married a meat eater and have had to change my ways, so I'm exploring a whole new world of food, and am still loving every minute of it! I still love the big holidays with all of the women buzzing around in the kitchen. My family is spread out along the Midwest, so it's great getting together. At home, I love cooking with my friends. I host dinner parties for the 10 of us every Thursday and rotate my sous chefs. The kitchen is the best place for everyone to gather around. I convinced my meat-and-potatoes husband that tofu is yummy. And that onions are not poisonous. This was a huge feat. Now if I can just sneak in tomatoes and mushrooms we'll be all set. Two important lessons come to mind. First, my very first batch of chocolate chip cookies turned into salty hockey pucks. I learned quickly the difference between baking soda and baking powder. As well as the difference between tsp and tbs. More recently I learned that fresh sage does not appreciate the mini food processor. It burnt the leaves and stunk up the kitchen!