I'm a 41 year old mom of three "young adults" ages 25, 18 & 17. I embraced my 40th birthday with open arms. It has been a life changing moment, since I’m more relaxed, and I don’t sweat the small stuff anymore. I live on “Long Island” (as us LI’ers pronounces it “Long-guy-land”) and enjoy the Indian season as it is the best time to take a drive out East to the local farms to pick natures bounty such as apples, strawberries, tomatoes and pumpkins! Large breakfast on the weekends...eggs, bacon, toast, homefries, pancakes...the works! Since I was raised “old school” Puerto Rican, my cooking tends to have bold flavors. I enjoy making fresh sofrito using ingredients such as fresh tomatoes, cilantro, culantro, and these small little peppers called “ajices dulces”. I use sofrito on almost everything! I also like to use my slow cooker during winter months. It’s such a life-saver in making stews or chili. I think my greatest cooking triumphs were cooking for my large family (and extended family) a traditional Puerto Rican Thanksgiving meal. I started appetizers at noon such as pastillos, tostones, and bacalaitos moving to a light soup course around 2:30pm, and have the formal sit down dinner at 5:00pm. The holiday was so memorial…first rate food, great family, wonderful memories…Priceless! Twenty years ago, I was a newly wed wife; I wanted to impress my husband with my cooking skills and decided to make a meat loaf. I over cooked the meatloaf and when I tried to pry it from the pan, it looked like a brick. My sweet husband insisted it was still salvageable and tried to be a good sport about it, but after one bite, he knew better. We still laugh over this