I was born and raised in South Florida and grew up with Cuban cuisine. I have a wonderful husband who's a soldier and a beautiful baby girl. I love my black beans and rice, tostones and platanos maduros. Those kinds of foods remind me of home and I try my best to keep the torch going by cooking the kinds of foods I grew up with, along with a whole new variety of international dishes and of course American to keep my husband happy! While cooking I constantly try to keep certain things in mind: 1. Be yourself 2. Let your instincts guide you 3. Don't listen to naysayers and 4. Have fun! If there's anything I can prove to other people is that if I can go from burning oatmeal to being considered a good cook in under 2 years, so can you! I love to cook Cuban, Italian, Mexican and American foods. I always aim for the most authentic recipes possible, but I am not afraid to mix things up a little from time to time or make permanent changes if I think it tastes better a different way. All kinds of cuban bean dishes from black to red to lentils, the different ways to make plantains delicious, Arroz Imperial (imperial rice) and probably the two best Cuban meals I can make is the authentic Cuban meat and potatoes dish and picadillo, or ground beef hash. My best cooking triumph was probably nailing a lasagna dish on the first try and by instinct had added a few extra things that made the dish absolutely incredible. It was a great surprise and a huge hit! A lot of my cooking tragedies stemmed from being a self taught cook. The worst is probably not having known that pies drip and so I had to clean up the entire oven with a scrub brush to take out the burnt sugar. The mess was awful and would make anyone want to cry. The good thing is you learn the most from your biggest tragedies so it's all good :)