Married with three grown children living away from home and one teenage step-daughter living with us. We also have two fantastic cats and two spoiled rotten Chihuahuas. I'm a college professor at the Defense Language Institute at the Presidio of Monterey. We moved from Arkansas to the Monterey Peninsula of California about a year ago and love it here--this is one of the most beautiful places on Earth! I generally don't enjoy cooking, so you may be wondering why I'm on this site! I am a very busy person and do need recipes that are quick and easy for the most part. However, when we have a bit of free time or a special occasion coming up, I do like to experiment and try more complicated recipes. I enjoy the way recipes are presented on this site, especially the feedback from the reviewers who tell what works well or doesn't work well with recipes, often offering suggested ways to tweak the recipes. As a child, first learning to cook (maybe aged 9 or 10) I baked my first pumpkin pie. It smelled absolutely delicious coming out of the oven, and evenyone couldn't wait to dig in. However, I saw that something was terribly wrong when I saw the face of the first person to take a bite! I had added all the ingredients as listed--except for the sugar! You can just imagaine what that pie tasted like!