I enjoy cooking. I love to try new dishes and always enjoy putting a new twist on an old favorite and making recipes healthier. My Italian ancestry and living with two great cooks, my mother and grandmother, has given me a knowledge of Italian cooking. Many of the recipes I grew up with have been modified to lower fat versions. I enjoy cooking for the holidays and making the traditional recipes that I grew up with. Cooking has brought my daughter and I closer together. We work together to prepare both simple meals and traditional holiday feasts and to make gourmet chocolates. My worse tragedy happened when friends stopped in as I was heating up oil for Chinese egg rolls. While I was chatting with my guests, the smoke alarm went off and the flames in my pan were about a foot high.