I love to cook and try new things. My Mom and Grandma are great cooks so I was raised around great food. I've been very fortunate to travel all over the US and world so I draw upon my experiences for inspiration. I love to entertain and have friends over for elaborate dinner parties. I love to go all out! I love to cook so many things! If I had to narrow it down I'd say appetizers and dishes that use herbs and vegetables from my garden. I put together a family cookbook a few years ago and I came to the realization that our family's favorite meat must be ham! There were so many ham-related recipes submitted. My Grandpa was from Virginia and we always make his ham for Easter and Christmas. It's delicious - brown sugar, pineapple and cloves. Yum! There's been so many things that I've been proud of...I'd say I'm especially proud of some of the BBQ meats I've made - country style ribs and hickory smoked pulled pork. I once spilled a springform pan of unbaked coffee cake batter on the bottom of my oven - what a mess. At one Christmas dinner party I forgot to strain the grease off a prime rib gravy I made - it was an oil slick.