I'm a buisness woman at a large company in Seattle, WA. Currently, I spend a number of nights each week working towards my MBA. My day job is not a very creativly stimulating, so when I have time away from work & school, I enjoy spending time in the kitchen working on my cooking/baking skills. I'm new to the kitchen, so I still havent mastered all of the basics... but I'm getting there! My favorite thing to cook is dessert. I love perfecting the presentation piece and adding those little touches that make guests go "wow!". My favorite dinner dishes are those that are simple and unique. I dont have too much time in my week, so quick and easy meals are high on my list of recipes. For every family gathering, my Mom is always asked to make my grandmother's Hot Bean Dip recipe. It's been changed slightly throughout the years and is always taylored to meet the taste buds of the honoree of the evening. (ie: My brother dislikes olives, so they arent there when it's his birthday...whereas I prefer the dish to be meatless for a healthy variety and is made like that for my birthday) Recently I tried a Chicken Pesto Panini recipe listed by one of the AllRecipe users and it was EXCELLENT! I havent used those ingredients in combination before and they were delicious! Opened up my eyes to many more combinations. For my birthday cake one year, I decided to make a chocolate mint ice cream cake. It was chocolate cake with chocolate chip mint ice cream in the middle. To accent the cake, I tried to flavor the icing with a bit of mint extract. When we bit into the cake, the family all looked at eachother. I finally spoke up and said, "well, i guess we wont have to brush our teeth after this meal!" because the frosting tasted EXACTLY like Crest toothpaste! It still provides us with a laugh now and then.