I'm 27 years old. I've been married to my husband Mark for almost 6 years, and we have two beautiful children: Jacob (10/31/02) and Tessie (01/23/04). I was a teacher for two years before stopping to have children and be a stay-at-home mom. We grew up in Indiana, but have been living in Japan for over a year now, with another 9 months to go. I have had to learn how to make many things from scratch, as American style convenience products just are not available here. I share my love of cooking with both of my children's Godmother's, and we love getting together to share our recipes and cook for one another. I love to cook just about anything, I can't really choose. I do take great pride in my baking though: cookies, speciality cakes, cheesecakes, muffins, and sweet breads. I love entertaining, and I try to offer new and interesting items to my guests, many of which I can find on this site! I started cooking with my cousins when I was in elementary school, falling in love with cooking shows on PBS and later the cable cooking channels. I started by baking cookies as a child, but have now been cooking just about anything I want to try. I love to cook for my family and friends, and throw huge parties with my food as the star attraction. My son, who is 3 1/2, is taking up my love of cooking, too. Tessie, my 2 year old, also loves to help pour and stir! My dear aunt has been making beautiful cakes for about 10 years now, and always provided the cakes for every party I had, including my wedding and my children's Baptisms. She has since moved to another state, so I decided to teach myself a little bit about cake decorating. I've made some cakes I am very proud of, and I cannot wait to move back to the States so I can take formal classes to really expand my cake decorating abilities. Well, once when I was about 10, my best friend and I made peanut butter cookies for our moms. We misread the recipe, and instead of 1/4 tsp. salt, we used 1/4 cup! Her mom was so gracious and told us they were good, but that was the biggest mistake I have ever made, and it is a day we will never forget.