I'm a native Chicago girl living in Florida and I absolutely love it! I have had to adjust my cooking style a bit with the new location. There is less variety of ethnic foods available in South Florida, but we do have excellent seafood! So, I've been cooking new dishes and incorporating new flavors. My boyfriend and I were just in New Orleans, and we picked up some interesting cajun spices. So, I'm kind of on a cajun kick right now! Let me know if you have any good recipes! Anything Italian - eggplant parmesan, gnoccis, lasagna I also love baking traditonal ethic goodies - biscotti, german pancakes, tartes, etc. My family loves to eat! So, food has always been an important part of our family gatherings and traditions. When you're Italian you love people with food...so I like to cook for the important people in my life Nothing major! I guess my triumph is that I also improve on something when I make it for the 2nd time, and the 3rd time...so, I figure those dishes will reach perfection in the next 50 yrs or so! Of course by then I may not remember how to make them! The first time I made a Buche de Noel for French class when I was in HS. I went through 4 or 5 cakes before I got anything resembling a Yule Log! It put me off coking for awhile! But now I realize that noone is instinctively an excellent cook. It takes practice like anything else