I love travel and learning new cultures. As a result my family lives and moves to various areas across the globe. We enjoy meeting new people, trying new foods, and learning new ways of life. I've had to learn to make most foods homemade and learn how to substitute lots of ingredients. I miss the variety of foods and ease of cooking States-side but I love the challenge of cooking overseas! I love to cook stir-fry dishes, sauces of various kinds and types, comfort food (a taste of home when I'm far away), anything Italian made from scratch, lots of hummus, breads, and lots of desserts!!! I'll make anything that sounds good at the time. =) Most recently I mastered authentic Chicago-style deep dish pizza! Thin buttery crisp crust, lots of cheese, toppings and crushed tomatoes to top it off. The crust was the hardest to master as it is not the typical doughy bread crust. It has more of a grainy texture. But alas I did it and in Turkey none the less! The flour is different in this country - less gluten so I have to make lots of changes to nearly every recipe which includes flour! The crushed red pepper in Turkey has a unique/different flavor than it does in the States. Until I discovered that, many of my sauces tasted all wrong. Couldn't figure it out - was eliminating all sorts of spices before I finally realized the culprit! Must taste every spice here even if it is supposedly the same spice. Likewise cilantro here is hard to find and even when I find it, it tastes different than what is available in the US. So I've had a few meals taste a little off due to these little issues. =(