I was born and raised the cities of Michigan and now live in western New York in the cutest little town called Scottsville. I'm still working and married to the most wonderful man in the world - second only to my father. We have no children of our own, but he had 3 sons when we became a couple. I have 10 nieces and nephews, two of whom are now married and have children, two are in serious relationships, the rest are all happy and working. I love them all more than anything - they are my joys in life! Chocolate and peanuts are two of my favorite foods. I love to cook Mexican, Italian, Asian and "American" food. I also love to make desserts and any and all kinds of holiday foods. My family heritage is Italian, but I am good at all cooking traditions. I actually had a gingerbread project - two rocking horse sleighs - published in a gingerbread magazine a few years ago. I made them for my nieces for Christmas. I'm sure I'm not alone in this one - left sugar out of a cake recipe. I killed the yeast in my first attempt at making bread... I made a nice doorstop, though. I didn't wait long enough for my stew beef to get tender before adding the other ingredients and it was like eating veggies with small pieces of rubber.