We love to travel and taste the local flavors. I've been cooking/experimenting since I was about 12. I am a perfectionist and am open to trying new and different cuisines. I'm not afraid to try anything and I have tried some pretty weird stuff in my travels. Fortunatly, I have a husband who loves food, good food and who too, is open to new dishes. I enjoy taking recipe, especially Mexican dishes and tweaking them to make them a bit healthier. I make the best enchiladas, salsa, Mexican stir frys. I'm also known for my lasagna, green beans, stuffing and grilled veggies.I make a killer chicken dish. For the holidays my entire family gets together. All the women gather in the kitchen to prepare the holiday feast. Each woman is assigned a dish. You know you are really a good cook if you are asked to assist with other dishes or to do some baking. If you are a .. umm.. a not so good cook, you get stuck with dishes. My grandmother, who is personal chef, goes around giving advice. Sometimes she can be seen sneaking in spices to someones dish. We now have evolved into doing progressive holiday feasts. 2-3 host families per household. We start off with appetizers, then salads, entree and lastly desserts. Youth buy the paper goods. Single men buy drinks, ice and coffee! The entire dinner becomes a team effort. The fun part is cramming into cars to caravan across town to the next house. After dessert, the entire caravan drives around town to see the Christmas lights. We end up where we started, have coffe, sing carols and play games. I made bread. Finally! Each and every loaf I had made before has always come out as a disaster. Either Rock hard, flat or just a bad flavor. I tried a challah recipe which came out quite tasty. I took about 15 pictures of my loaf as proof that I can bake bread. For my own house warming party, I made a chocolate cheesecake. Never baked with cocoa before. I tripled the amount. I wanted extra chocolaty cake. They were polite as they tasted the BITTER cheesecake. When the party ended, I noticed I was throwing away quite a bit of cheesecake. It was then that I tasted my own creation. It was NASTY. I was so embarrassed.