I'm an opera singer and voice teacher with a passion for cooking. I occasionally cater small parties and do wedding cakes. Everyone tells my husband he's spoiled, but for me, cooking isn't a chore. I actually look forward to the times I actually HAVE TIME to cook! My friends call me operachef so I like to say "the difference between an opera diva and a kitchen diva is that an opera diva expertly sings, but a kitchen diva makes others sing!" This is a tough question; I love to bake, everything from easy drop cookies to fancy layered cakes. I love to do fancy petite desserts and h'or d'oeuvres too. A must to learn in Montreal is ethnic food, so I've made everything from traditional Indian to African. I LOVE to experiment with everything!!! My mother was a great cook and I would stand by her side as a little girl and watch her create magic. Her Christmas tortiere is the best I've had (highly spiced and her crust was so thick and flaky!) but my favourite was her peanut butter chocolate chip cookies that she only made at Christmas. Sounds simple, but I still have never found a recipe like the one she made. Sadly, its been lost, but I've come very close in the reproduction! My first wedding cake, homeade fondant and all (which actually got eaten as I made it from marshmallows!). I got two more orders from that wedding alone!Also I did a 7 course Italian meal for 12 Italians. LOADS of work but the cries of "bella!" after every course made it all worth it! During a dinner party that included children, I decided to make plain rice and some grilled chicken for the kids as I knew that they wouldn't eat the osso buco and mushroom risotto! I cooked it in the microwave since the stove was full, but forgot to lower the cooking level. From the living room, during h'or d'oeuvres, we all started to smell something. I panicked thinking "oh my God, my osso buco!" Thankfully it was only pitch black rice smoking in the microwave. Embarassing, but could have been worse!