I am a wife, mom, and teacher who loves to be in the kitchen, especially with my kids and students. I was born in Texas, grew up in the Florida Keys, went to college in Tallahassee, and have since lived in St. Maarten, Netherlands Antilles; Waterford, Ireland; Orlando, Florida; New Orleans, Louisiana; and currently reside in Baton Rouge. I love to cook anything, but I DO NOT fry food, I leave that up to my husband. ;) I try and keep my cooking on the lighter side to accommodate my healthy and active life style, although I've yet to find an equally delicious low-fat chocolate chip cookie! My mom and dad taught me practically everything I know about the kitchen. I want to instill in my own children a love for cooking together as a family. When I was 9 years old I made ravioli from scratch just to see if I could. It was delicious! I've since discovered that the refrigerated versions are just as tasty, and a lot less time consuming! For my Mom's 40th birthday, I made a huge double-layer chocolate cake and potato salad. My dog ate half the cake while it was cooling, and the potatoes were still crunchy... Lessons learned: keep dogs out of the kitchen until cleanup, and taste as you go!