I'm a writer and teacher. I discovered that I loved to cook when I bought a condo with my boyfriend and he promised me a food processor if I kept cooking and improving! I love to mess with marinades. It's amazing to me how different you can make the same old chicken taste with just a dash of flavor. My mom's red Italian sauce, one hundred percent. I love making it but I've never actually written down a recipe. I guess that's an Italian thing - I don't think any woman in the history of my family has ever written it down - we just show each other how to do it. I made my first homemade pie this past Thanksgiving, along with a stuffed mushroom appetizer. They were both hits at a very large dinner, so I felt great about that. Oh, I can't even get into it. I'm no expert! (Not yet, anyway:))