I am an overworked tech support specialist who maintains sanity by walking, yoga and reading. I love to cook and experiment with new flavors and recipes. On the weekends my husband and I take turns trying to impress each other with home cooked dinners. Even though I learned to cook from him, our styles are very different. His taste is definitely Italian inspired, while my taste tends to revolve between down-home and Asian flavors. I LOVE pork and apples, it is my FAVORITE! My Crockpot needs to get more use during weekdays. Every year my sisters, nieces and Mom get together during Christmas time to bake. It's a great time and I love being with all my girls. I learned to cook from my husband. The first time I decided to spread my wings and take on dinner myself I chose to do baked pork chops with apple stuffing. Barely looking at the recipe and basically going by instinct I ended up with the best dinner we've ever had. He even told me that it tasted like something you'd get in a restaurant. I was very proud of myself :) After a few more successful dinners, I decided to try my own BBQ sauce for country ribs in the Crockpot. As I was gathering the ingredients I found that I was missing vinegar; the only kind I had was rice vinegar. I threw everything together and without tasting it first I poured it all over the ribs, put on the lid and set the thing to cook for 6 or 7 hours. By the time it was done my husband and I were beyond hungry. Unfortunately, that was the WORST dinner ever made. The flavor was god-awful. It was such a let down, especially after waiting all that time!