I am a stay at home mom of two beautiful girls who are the love of my life. I also am going to school for photography which is my second favorite hobby, just after cooking. I love trying new recipes for my family to try, although my girls are very picky eaters and usually won't eat whatever I cook. However, my husband and father have probably gained 20 pounds alone on all of my experiments and don't seem to be complaining about it. My favorite things to cook would have to be Italian and Asian dishes. Of course, homestyle cooking isn't too far down the list either. Every Christmas, my mom and I do all of our baking together. We bake cookies, cupcakes, almond poundcake and fruitcakes. We have been doing this for over 25 years now and it is something that I always look forward to. Now my two daughers have joined in the tradtion too and has made it even more special. I am most proud of perfecting my mom's chicken 'n dumplings. I had heard horror stories of people trying to make it when I was a child. No one seemed to be able to make it like mom did. Once I was old enough to start cooking, I would watch her everytime that she made it and after a few trials and errors I have finally perfected it. I don't know how but I did and am very proud of myself for doing so. Right after I got married, I wanted to make my husband country fried steak with mashed potatoes, which I had never made either before. I must have poured half a gallon of oil in the frying pan and the steaks were completely greased logged and well the potatoes had way too much milk in them and turned out more like a soup. It was horrible. My husband was very sweet though, he tried to eat it and never complained. We ended up ordering a pizza that night.