I am a busy stay-at-home mom to three little angels (ages 6, 4, and 1) who constanty keep me on my toes. I've been married to the man who keeps me sane (my rock) for 7 years. I enjoy reading (when I have the time), I love the summer-time (my favorite time of the year), and I just recently started gardening with some success. I love anything bbq and seafood related. I also love cooking recipes given to me by my mom because it reminds me of my childhood. I'm not such a good baker per say, but I enjoy making desserts - especially anything with chocolate! I like all types of food from all over the world, and I usually try to make a whole dinner (entree, side and maybe even dessert) if I can from a different country at least once a month. Thanksgiving without a doubt is my favorite time of the year. Since I was 15 years old, my cousin and I have made Turkey Day Dinner. Its a time for our parents and grandparents to relax and has become a big "cousin" dinner thing which now includes my two sisters, and an additional 3 cousins plus our spouses (all in our mid 20's - early 30's now)! We usually have about 30 people at dinner and it's always chaotic and crazy but we always have tons of fun planning the menu and trying to out do our excellent meal from the prior year. I remember the first time I made dinner for my family - I must have been 14 or so. I made chicken dumplings and a chocolate cake with ganache icing. My mom still talks about that dinner. It really was fabulous. I lost the chicken dumpling recipe after that dinner and have never been able to duplicate it! Just recently, literally two weeks ago, I was making homemade bread and everything was going well. I was on the last step and the dough had risen to 1 inch above the loaf pan and as i was getting ready to turn my oven on and bake the bread my 1 year old fell down a couple steps and cut her forehead open. We had to rush to the emergency room and by the time we got home a few hours later, the dough had fallen flat and smelled almost rancid. I honestly have no idea why that happened considering it had risen up so beautifully just prior to the emergency room visit. I tried baking it anyway and it came out hard and dense and weird. Needless to say I threw it away.