I was born and raised in a little town in NC. I met my hubby in HS and we dated all throughout. After graduation he joined the Coast Guard and our journey began! We have lived in VaBeach twice, Alaska, Charleston, and now we're back home in NC. We have two kiddos to keep us on our toes. I started cooking when we moved to Alaska. With both of us being from the south, it was quite a culture shock and we missed our fried foods...lol. Paula Deen's show was a life-saver at that time. I realized just how much I enjoy cooking and have gotten a little more creative. I really enjoy experimenting with different flavors and none of our family or friends seem to mind being my guinea pigs! What I enjoy cooking most varies from time to time. I seem to go on different kicks and stick with them for a few weeks to months and then move on to something new. My husband's family has Dutch origins. Every year around the Christmas holiday season they all get together and make oliebollens (not sure of the spelling). It's almost like a fried cake or doughnut that has bits of fruit in it and rolled in conf. sugar. It's a great time getting the whole family together in the kitchen. I'm not sure if this is a cooking triumph or just luck, but when we finally moved back home and built our first house, we had a housewarming party. I had been on the site for several years, and let's just say that I have a lot of faith in you guys(other members) and your ratings and reviews...lol. I chose about 5 different recipes to try from the site the day before, without ever trying them. I made some changes to some, as per other reviewers, and some I left the same. I had exactly 0 food left and lots of people begging for recipes! I made all those recipes several times since, making small changes to make them my own, and they never let me down for parties and get-togethers. lol... When we were in Kodiak (AK) we had a friend over and him and my hubby were working on the quads in the garage. I was inside boiling some eggs for a snack. They got done and decided to go for a "quick" ride. I forgot the eggs and went with them. Four hours later we came home to smoke rolling out the windows! Luckily there was no fire, but the eggs exploded and made it from the kitchen into the living room, inside cabinets, everywhere! I thought I would never get it all up!