For the past 16+ years I was a single mom to an amazing young man. In 2005 I met my husband to be and we began dating in February 2007. After a whirl-wind romance, we were married on August 17th, 2007. It's been quite a year! We are currently living in Turkey and do a great deal of traveling in Central Asia. My husband and I are pretty adventurous and love to travel and experience new cultures... especially new foods!!!! Since we live in a middle-eastern culture, our diet is healthier than ever! Tons of fresh fruit and vegetables and very little processed or fast foods are available. Occasionally we miss things from home - like a simple hot-dog, but we manage to survive :) I love to cook more than bake - infact I'm quite passionate about it. I love good food - and love cooking with cream and butter and all of the things that aren't so good for you ;-) I will read/browse recipes for inspiration, but rarely do I follow them to a "T" but I would rather get creative and make them my own. I love to cook all kinds of foods, including BBQ/Grilling, Italian and Thai. Quite often I can taste a new dish and pick up what's in it and recreate it for my family at a later time. Living overseas, I've really come to miss Holiday meals. Growing up we celebrated every holiday with a traditional family meal and wonderful desserts. My dad has to be the worlds greatest cook and I think I've picked up my knack and passion for cooking from him (it's in the genes I suppose :) As my new husband, son and I create our lives together, I hope I can continue the tradition of celebrating the holidays that are meaningful to us. Anytime my husband, son or friends compliment my cooking. I attempted to make an Olive Oil cake. I baked it in a silicone bundt pan and baked it according to what the recipe required. The stoves over here are different (cheaper I suppose) so I should have baked it longer :-S When I took it out of the oven it had fallen over to one side and kind of dripped out of the pan. I let the cake cool hoping it would be salvagable, but it wasn't. It was extremely heavy and like I said, could have used more time in the oven. But my adorable husband Michael ate it regardless... he said the texture wasn't so great but the taste was perfect... how's that for love? :)