I'm the mother of two great kids ages 21 and 18. My husband Steve is my guinea pig for new recipes and he always has kind, encouraging words for my successes as well as my failures. I began cooking at age 12 when my parents went into business in a neighboring town and didn't arrive home till late. I immediately fell in love with it! I love to bake cheesecake and a few other signature desserts such as my chocolate peanut butter passion cake and cream puffs with pistachio cream filling. I love to make fresh pasta and serve it with homemade sauces. My late father and I used to spend New Year's Day baking bagels from scratch. They rivaled any bagel you could find in New York! Catering my sister's wedding for 80 people - I made all the food as well as the wedding cake! My first bread baking attempt failed miserably. I was trying to bake Italian bread and even though the loaves baked to a beautiful golden brown, the inside was raw. It took years before I attempted it again.