I'm a busy stay at home mom to 3 young children. I live in a house of picky eaters who enjoy bland foods, but humor me and all my attempts to try something new and exciting on them. Cooking and baking are great loves of mine. I read cookbooks for FUN. My favorite room in my home is my kitchen! I love to feed people and wow them with yummy desserts. Sometimes I even wow myself! My favorite things to cook are good ole fashioned American comfort foods and ethnic dishes I've never made before! I'm always adding to my recipe collection...but I would have to say I love making desserts the best. I also enjoy making rice pilafs, breads and homemade pizza. My family didn't have any cooking traditions...so I am working hard on building some of these memories and traditions myself for my children. My greatest triumphs in the kitchen come when a dish I have made gets oohs and ahhs...followed by did you make this yourself???? But what really makes me feel like I have succeeded is when everyone eats and fills their bellies and walks away with a smile on their face. My first hosting gig was Thanksgiving. I had been married one year and decided to invite all my family and my husband's family to our teeny tiny apartment...I figured a 20 something pound turkey might be big enough. Never taking into account that my oven was just not large enough to hold a turkey that size. I had to keep rotating the turkey in the oven to cook all sides and still ended up with a half cooked turkey...one side done to beautiful perfection -- the other side not quite done all the way. And to make matters worse...I burned my homemade noodle gravy, my stuffing (homemade) was mushy and weird and my pumpkin pies looked funny and the crusts turned out gummy with burnt edges. Having never been taught to cook...I had no idea what I was getting myself into. I learned a lot of lessons that day--and the main lesson was that my husband had a really NICE family! They ate happily and graciously.