I am 31 years old, and live in the suburbs of Atlanta with my husband. I like to think I'm a pretty good cook, because my husband always seems to really like whatever I make! I'm a pretty picky eater, so it can be difficult to find recipes that have ingredients that I'll actually eat. I don't mind cooking things that I wouldn't eat for other people and I get a lot of those ideas from this website. I enjoy comfort foods like casseroles and pastas. I also really enjoy doing all kinds of baking. Growing up, my mother and I would always do a lot of holiday baking. That's really about it. She was a single mother that worked a lot of nights, so that left me with a babysitter who didn't know how to cook. When I got old enough to watch myself, it was always macaroni and cheese, hamburger helper or something easy to throw together. When my husband and I start having children, I really want to have them involved in the kitchen. I've always enjoyed cooking and baking with my nieces and nephews, and can't wait to have that experience all the time with my own. This past Thanksgiving (2007) was probably my only triumph! It was our first Thanksgiving as husband and wife, and my in-laws came and spent the weekend with us. I had never cooked a turkey before, so I was a little nervous. I wasn't really sure what else to cook, so I made a TON of sides. Everything turned out so great, and everyone was so impressed! I was making a chocolate cake with peanut butter chips and peanut butter cream cheese frosting for a baking contest at out company Christmas dinner. It was coming along great, and couldn't have been better! I went to put chocolate shavings on the cake for decoration, and after I was finished I realized I had dusted the entire cake with unsweetened chocolate! The shavings were literally all over the cake, and I knew people would spit it out right away. Since I had put the shavings on after the frosting had hardened, I got a hairdyer out and blew the cake with the cool setting to get most of it off. Then I used a damp towel to sponge up whatever was left. It must have worked, because everyone at the party gobbled the cake up before the judges had a chance to judge it. I've learned my lesson to double check my ingredients before I start making anything!!