I am a nursing student and mother of two boys. Although I am too busy to do it everyday, I love to bake and cook. I would say my number one favorite thing to do in the kitchen is to bake. I inherited my father's sweettooth- as a child I learned to bake cookies early on, and I have always loved doing it. Cakes and other desserts are high on my list- but I also love to make an impressive entree as well. I love blending southern and midwestern food tradtions with new gourmet techniques. I only want to improve the traditional foods I grew up on- not change them all-together. Both of my Parents did the cooking in my family. My mother grew up in rural Ohio, and brought many classic family dinners to the table (roasted chicken with homemade mashed potatoes and gravy, Tuna noodle casserole, and salmon patties)- while my father explored the gourmet side of things by experimenting with pan-asian recipes and new grilling techniques. They are both great cooks, and really encouraged me to get involved in the kitchen at a young age. With a 16 month old son- just getting dinner on the table is a triumph! However, I am looking forward to the upcoming holiday season- my family's christmas celebration will be held in my home and I hope I will be able to add that to the list of triumphs, as I am already collecting and preparing test recipes. When I was about 19 years old, I came home from college for Thanksgiving break. That evening my exhusted mother suggested that we simply buy pie crust and use that for our pumpkin pie- I said "no! we can't use store-bought crust on thanksgiving!", mostly because my mother's handmade crusts are to-die-for! So she slaved in the kitchen on her delicious and tender hand-made crusts, while I prepared the filling. We happily filled the beautiful crusts with the filling I prepared and set the timer. When the timer went off the pies just didn't seem cooked-through, all giggly in the middle, so we set the timer for a few more minutes. When the timer went off a second time and the filling still hadn't set, I re-traced my steps and realized I'd forgotten to add the eggs to the filling mixture! This mistake cost us the pies, and their delectable crusts. Needlesstosay, we ended up with store bought pies that season, and I learned my lesson about double checking the recipe!