Hello!! My name is Jonae and I am forever married to my wonderful husband, Spencer. We live in Washington state where I work for a financial institution as a Member Consultant and my husband is in his 5th year serving in the US Navy. We made the "big step" and bought our first home not too long ago and someone (as in me) is already getting baby fever. We want to go on one last trip before we start having kids so we are planning on visiting Pisa, Italy and attending a week long cooking school there called, Toscana Saporita (http://www.toscanasaporita.com/) where you study the unique nature of Tuscan cuisine. We are very excited and plan on making that trip in April. So, as for now we just live in our home with our furry Golden Retriever son, Yogi and enjoying our time together. I LOVE cooking for my husband and it's become not only a hobby, but an obsession. We have gone from eating out just about every night to me cooking a new, wonderful recipe from AR and eating out MAYBE once a mont Where to I start? I started cooking using just my crock pot (it was so easy) and now it's starting to collect dust in my cupboard because I never use it anymore. I have now grown very fond of making marinades for pork, chicken and steaks. This site has opened me up to so many new and wonderful recipes that I honestly can say I don't have any favorites to cook. I hope to one day call myself a professional and hopefully be experienced enough in all styles of cuisine to one day be featured on the Food Network Channel. A far fetched dream, but I believe that you only go as far as you dream....so dream big!! I love cooking for people....whether it be a crowd or just another girlfriend or two. I used to not care what I put in to my food but now I try and be really conscience of the ingredients I use to make my dishes healthier. As for traditions, I really don't have any...just make good food for good people and have a good time while doing it!! That would probably be my first successful Pot Roast. So yummy!! I cooked it for nearly 16 hours so you can imagine how much we were tortured with that smell lingering around the house all night and day. Oh I have made my share of horrible dishes. My most recent one would be trying to do a chicken roll up with mozzarella cheese tomato soup and sour cream. It turned out nasty......enough said.