Living on our rustic wilderness family farm for most of my years, I've had incredible opportunities for raising gardens, flocks of poultry,(fresh eggs) had horses,small herds of beef cattle,(Grade AA meat) milked our own beautiful Gurnsey cow (fresh whole milk, cream, butter, and cheese)etc, and did all those wonderful healthy things that such a lifestyle affords a family (we raised 2 boys)! My Mother was Finnish, and raised on a wonderful dairy farm in Northern Minn. Our favorite foods were her homemade breads and pastries, luscious deserts, and savory hotdishes. Therefore my own cooking style nearly exactly reflected hers. However, I married a man from the South, so my expertise had to become widely expanded! It was a great challenge, but I knew I'd "arrived" the morning I heard him greatly complimenting my cooking to his Mother - who's meals had always been his very favorites!! Believe me, it was well worth all the effort! I'm a country cook who's long delighted in cooking from scratch with entirely wholesome and natural ingredients. Most of which we'd raised ourselves in such deeply fertile, purely organic soil. Yum - there's nothing quite like such cuisine!! Our boys grew up so strong and healthy, hardly ever catching even colds! My cooking triumphs? It's hard to pinpoint such things,exactly. I'm always being asked for my recipes, have won cooking contests, been ernestly complimented for meals set before our company, and have had almost unheard of prices paid for my pies being auctioned off in fundraisers.(what fun!) My cooking tragedies? Well... 1. I accidently put cinnamon in the turkey gravy one thanksgiving and actually, it tasted pretty good!! 2. Left a piece of plastic wrap on top of the caramal rolls rising in the oven, when I turned it up to bake! Wouldn't have even remembered, had they not had SUCH a shiny gloss to them when they came out of the oven! 3. Was ripening some avacadoes in a paper bag in the oven (with the pilot light) and turned the oven on to preheat it for supper's baking for company that night. Needless to say - the bag went up in flames and there would be no guacamole for our carnea-sada that evening! :o(