I'm just a girl from a small town in New Hampshire that loves to cook! My dad is a retired chef who owned (and still owns) a bakery and runs it out of his home with my mom. I'm guessing that's where my love of cooking came from. Maybe?? Oh man... this is tough. I love to make things that are different and unique. I love to cook vegetarian dishes that 100% non-vegetarian eaters end up LOVING. I love to cook Lebanese dishes because my husband has a Lebanese background. So yeah... stuff like that. :) Umm... Well I'm not from your typical family. We didn't really have a lot of "traditions." But something my parents have done for the longest time and still do today is every year they have a German dinner. My dad pulls out his beer making kits and starts his beer. My brother puts together German music mix c.d.'s. Him and my sister put on German hats and drink out of the glass "beer boots." The best part? We're not even German. :) It's a great time. Cooking triumphs? Hmm... I guess anytime I put together a recipe of my own, I feel a sense of satisfaction and a feeling of triumph. When I can put ingredients together that make a fantastic dish, and it all comes from my own mind, that makes me feel really good. But that's only happened like... three times. Let's see, cooking tragedies. Ooh! Here's a good one! One time I decided at the last minute that I was going to make Cinnamon Buns. (Never in my life had I made Cinnamon Buns before.) So I did it and made everything the way I was supposed to yada yada yada. Well first thing that happened is that nothing rose the way it was supposed to. Then all of the yummy syrup that you put in the bottom of the muffin tins BURNED! Picture all of that syrup burning up to a crisp and filling our entire apartment with thick, black, heavy smoke! The smoke of burning sugar and nuts has to be the worst from my perspective!