I am a single mom of two, who often cooks for extended and adopted family members. I grew up eating delicious home-cooked food growing up on a farm, and started cooking for the entire family by the age of 15. Worked for a while in the restaurant industry, but would much rather cook in a not so fast paced atmosphere. I would like to take culinary classes someday. I also own over 200 cookbooks. Italian is my first and foremost favorite. I like to take recipes and make them my own, and I am not afraid to try anything at least once. . .if it's not good, that's what take-out is for. Christmas tradition of the past was when my younger sister was unmarried and she would come stay at our house on Christmas Eve, and get up early on Christmas morning and make Christmas breakfast for the whole family while drinking mimosas - we would have breakfast pizza, french toast, sausage, bacon, and cinnamon rolls. My biggest cooking triumph actually has nothing to do with actually cooking a meal, but the complete do-it-yourself remodel of my horrible inefficient kitchen, to a kitchen where the whole family gathers. The worst thing I ever made was supposed to be a bbq cheeseburger casserole. It was one that not even the most adventurous eater in the family would consume.