Avid outdoor lover, caver, and absolutely love good food & good wine. I am the queen of creating something out of nothing when our cupboards are bare...most of the time my creations are great, sometimes...not so much. I find the kitchen to be my comfort zone, and woe is the person who messes with me when I'm cooking! :) I really love making salad dressings, sauces, and desserts. I prefer to make everything from scratch, I am not a "box cooker" if I can help it. But really, I love to cook everything, and we rarely eat out as we often find we can do better meals at home than in many restaurants. I might as well not show up to our family Christmas unless I have cheesecake - I have several tried & true recipes that I rotate through. Also, my champagne mustard vinaigrette is a popular favorite. A few other often requested recipes: pasta salad, chicken squares, giant apple pie, homemade ravioli, braised short ribs, smoked salmon dip, etc. Cheesecake (the two favorites are a classic NY style & I always make a different topping, and turtle), cinnamon graham apple pie, chicken cacciatore, and definitely my salad dressing with homemade croutons, and my sundried tomato pasta salad. My recent experience with rack of lamb (found on this site) turned out extremely well, and endless desserts. I had a stretch where I was really having a problem with the crust on my chicken pot pie and it turned out as chicken pot chew. I've had a few cookie disasters as well. :)