I love to travel! And going to places near and far has exposed me to different cultures and different foods. My favorite thing to do while traveling is to eat the local foods. To taste the spices, the sauces, the fruits, and the flavors of the world have me running home to recreate what I experienced to share with the rest of my family and friends. I love cooking dishes that are simple, quick, and bursting of flavor. I am known for giving my foods a little kick by adding spicier cheese or adding few dashes of spicy red pepper flakes. In baking, I usually replace my vanilla extract with rum or cognac. I love cooking latin influenced dishes and baking anything with chocolate. When I first met my husband, being in college, there were times the only thing we could afford to make for our anniversary was spaghetti and meatballs. So every year, we remember those times and celebrate our anniversary with a big plate of spaghetti and meatballs! My husband comes from a family who is known for their cooking abilities. And every year, the only thing he wants for his birthday dinner is lasagna. Well, my ultimate cooking triumph was when my husband started requesting my lasagna for his birthday instead of his mom's or grandmother's! For some reason, I don't like to taste my food while I cook. For the most part, it doesn't matter as I eyeball everything and it comes out great! But there have been a few times where my eyeballs were wrong and the dish doesn't come out just right.