I have lived all over the South, from Tennessee, Florida, Virginia, and Texas. I went to college in Villanova, PA and I met my military hubby while playing volleyball in DC! I had never really cooked before we got married so thanks to Betty Crocker and Southern Living, we are both still alive! We have lived in Hawaii and Japan. I love to read, scrapbook, play volleyball, play with my Shar-Pei, and cook for my three kids! I love to do a fish fry when I have a gathering. I will fry catfish, shrimp, with all the sides. Because my family is polynesian, we cook with seafood several times a week. Now that I am living on the border of Mexico, I am trying lots of traditional Mexican dishes. The kids and I bake cookies for Santa every Christmas Eve. I let the kids pick out any cake recipe they want from the cookbooks for their birthday and we make it together! I host a cookie exchange and a progressive dinner every year. My first triumph was making the most delicious lemon rasberry cake for my daughter's first birthday. It had seven layers and looked as pretty as a picture! The classic turkey disaster! The first Thanksgiving I was married, I threw out the thermometer, left the giblets in, and hadn't properly thawed the turkey prior to cooking. Gross! It is a good thing I baked a good pie because that is what we ate!