I love cooking for my family & friends and Allrecipes.com is a great resource when trying to come up with new recipes and ideas. Dessert by far is my favorite meal to prepare. Right now I'm focused on coming up with new dinner recipes to prepare for my husband; Mexican and Italian are our favorite type of dishes. All the women in my family are GREAT cooks. My mom was a single parent and struggled to make ends meet, BUT whatever she prepared was ALWAYS so amazing and delicious. I used to watch her prepare dishes and be amazed how she never used measuring cups or spoons. First you have to understand that I am a late bloomer when it comes to cooking. The women in my family are amazing cooks, so when I make something and they all like it...that is a huge triumph! I made a Banana Cream Cheesecake that was suppose to be similar to what is served at the Cheesecake Factory and everyone who took a bite was impressed and begged for the recipe, including the women in my family! I made the Cannoli Roll cake recipe from the site and although it turned out beautifully, the guests at the party were not impressed. Apparently Cannolis are not BIG in Hawaii and the flavor was not something they were accustomed to, I on the other hand loved it. I spent 4 years in Chicago attending college and fell in love with cannolis and I just assumed that everyone else would too. That experience taught me to never again make anything "too exotic" for a conservative bunch.