Come from a Lithuanian background raised in the N.E.now living in SC. Love to cook, entertain, enjoy fine dining. Fell in love with Southern cooking now. Good & fattening, makes it all the better. Paula Dean is my idol for that! Watching Julia Child on TV made me start cooking French. Anything that's edible. Don't bake, but will try anything from any culture; but I never the recipe the same way twice! Getting back to traditional Lithuanian/Polish cooking recipes (in honor of my Mother). I'm the one in the family who wrote down all her recipes! Love to have "Theme" dinners. Ethic foods were part of my growing up in a multi-ethnic area. Long ago entered a Pumpkin soup recipe and it got published in a local newspaper!! Think I'm one of the better cooks in my realm of friends....cook dinner every night, no take out. Made some shrimp turnover recipe that I saw in a local paper. Sat down to eat it with hubby and took a few bites....we looked up at one another and he grimaced....I said, "You start the car; I'll call the Chinese restaurant for take-out." Thank goodness I didn't have company that night! It was terrible.