I love to cook! Though many of my recipes come from my mom, my replications are never as good. I still learning and am getting better every day. I love Allrecipes for the ease of finding recipes, tips from other cooks, and the sheer number of choices! I like to make different types of salads, like cucumber, tuna and pasta salad. I also really like to bake and make all sorts of desserts. I am a first-generation German, so we do a lot of potato pankcakes, wurst, schnitzal, and cucumber salad. I did my first Thanksgiving last year. We had just moved to Charlotte and had no family or friends around, so it was just my husband and I. The number of guests didn't stop me from making a huge spread - I made a 10lb turkey, apple stuffing, mashed sweet potatoes, roasted cauliflower, fresh green beans, rolls, and 2 types of pie - everything was so delicious that we hardly missed our family. I guess the biggest tragedy is when you put a lot of time into a dish you love and you share at a pot-luck type of setting and you think the dish is fabulous, but no one compliments it.