I'm a senior in college, studying public relations and political science, so I don't have nearly as much time for cooking as I would like. I live with my boyfriend and we both are very adventerous when it comes to food. We love trying new recipes and restaurants, but we're also somewhat of health nuts, so I end up changing most recipes to make them healthier. But every once in a while, it's fun to go all out and have something really rich and sinful! My love for cooking actually began with baking-- cookies, bars, cakes, pies, you name it. Around Christmas time I get together with my mom and spend a whole day baking boxes and and boxes of goodies! I really love making different egg dishes, appetizers and casseroles. We also eat alot of fish (mostly tilapia and salmon) so I've experimented alot with that. My mom's side of the family is 100% Scandinavian, and my dad's is mostly Czech, so I grew up eating lefse & kolachkies. I'm trying to expand my knowledge of Scandinavian and Czech cooking. I recently mastered a wonderful recipe for a Swedish Almond Puff-- YUM! For my boyfriend's 28th birthday earlier this year, I threw him a party at our place, and made a whole buffet of appetizers-- marinated mushrooms, two different kinds of pinwheels, cocktail meatballs, little smokies wrapped w/ bacon, meats and cheeses, veggie tray, spinach dip, homemade pizza rolls, cookies & bars. It was ALOT of work, but all the compliments I recieved made it WELL worth it. Ohhhh I have had many. In fact, this most recent Thanksgiving I was asked to bring a pie to my boyfriends' family's gathering (they live in Chicago, so we had to drive 8 hours to get there). I decided on an Apple Cranberry pie that I've been wanting to try. I made a practice one a couple days before and it turned out AWESOME. But the night before we were leaving, I made the pie to bring out there and the apples must have been more watery, and they seeped out the crust and the whole thing got SO soggy and looked HORRIBLE. In my agony & desperation, I drove 20 minutes to a 24-hour grocery store, bought more apples, went home and stayed up until 4 a.m. making another pie. Thankfully, it turned out much better and I got many compliments on it. I'm sure in 20 years I will look back on this story and laugh at myself for wanting to make such a good impression on my in-laws... haha.