I absolutely love to cook - especially baking cookies and cakes. I'm a firm believer that fresh ingredients make the recipe -- from herbs to fruits and veggies, I always buy fresh and make from scratch. My very best work, I think, was a birthday cake for my boyfriend's 25th birthday. He works in construction, so I used peanut butter frosting for the "dirt" and chocolate for the "roads" - I decorated it with mini construction trucks and grahm crackers - it was adorable and he LOVED it. A layered chocolate and raspberry cake that my mother and I made when I was younger. It took us HOURS and looked beautiful -- until the whole thing fell into the middle. We wound up eating it out of a bowl... with spoons.