I am a wife, mother of two teens, high school special education teacher, daughter, sister, and friend! I love to cook and enjoy entertaining family and friends. It has been a good day when I have cooked a family dinner and we all can sit and visit together around the table. Dinners with a Mexican flair are my specialty. I also love the holidays and cooking with my daughter, mother and extended family. My favorite family cooking traditions include cornbread dressing, cranberry salad, noodles, and carving the turkey for Thanksgiving and Christmas; Mom's potato salad and deviled eggs for picnics; favorite meals for birthdays; fondue for New Year's day; and tuna & noodle casserole for Halloween! Favorite cooking traditions with friends include Cinco de Mayo and Christmas Cookies with the Cains. The first Thanksgiving that my husband and I shared as a married couple, I fixed Thanksgiving dinner for his entire family in our little bungalow. It was cozy and delicious! Not really a "cooking" tragedy, but a tragedy none the less! My family loves potato & dumpling soup (a recipe handed down from my mother). I had fixed a big pot of the soup and were saying grace when we heard an unfamiliar sound. Jaxson, our golden retriever, had stood up to the counter and was lapping the soup right out of the pot! It was splattered everywhere! It was a sad dinner for everyone as I poured the remaining soup down the drain!