I am a California girl who has recently moved to Arizona. One of the motivating factors to come to the grand canyon state was the many culinary school opportunities available. I hope to be enrolled in one of the fine schools by the beginning of next year. I have been lucky to have great cooks in my family. I have a cousin who is a pastry chef for an NFL football team, an uncle who has a restaurant in Texas, and both my grandma's cooking could knock your socks off. I love to cook just about anything. I really like Thai, Italian, and Indian food. My fondest memories are when I was a child growing up on a ranch, watching my grandma literally create a meal from "SCRATCH", plucking the chickens, me gathering eggs, and strawberries, while she whips up Chicken and dumplings, and a strawberry pie... wow... this is in a house built by my family that has no electricity or running water... (there was a well on site) Pretty cool stuff, makes me realize how easy we modern foodies have it ya know... I have had several dinner parties, some have been themed (mobsters christmas, for my 30th we had a costume party) But my biggest triumph was a Baby shower that around 60-70 people attended, which was handled by me... I tried many new recipes for the first time, and all of them were hits... some bits and bites didn't even make it through the first hour! Ask me to bake you a cake... and I will crumble like a cookie ;) This is something I hope to learn through trial and error here, thanks to all the great recipes to choose from!