I am a cooking fanatic. I have five children. I'm from a German family and was raised in Canada, my family are from-scratch cooks, so I've adapted to rich meaty foods with a flair of french-canadian sauces and combined flavors. I am willing to try anything once and often never use accurate measurements and stray from the usual with my own substitutions and additions. I seem to have good luck. I enjoy to cook meats. I'm big on scratch marinades, sauces and seasonings. I'm usually pretty good at baking, but don't do a lot of it. My family has always been known for their ability to cook. We enjoy providing dishes for potlucks and parties and always having guests comment and ask for recipes. We never bring home a dish half eaten and there have been several moments where friends and family members have almost come to blows over portion equality. In 2002 my two foster sisters (non-cooks) volunteered to feed a meal for a big event for 120+ homeless. I offered my help before hand but they said they could handle it. They soon found themselves in deep water, so I came across town at 10pm the night before to help. After staying up with them all night until 3am, with my instructions we had finished with 3 scratch lasagnes, a 50 pound pot of chilli, 3 large bean and pasta salads, home made applesauce and something I call Mexican Macaroni. I didn't attend the dinner myself but I heard it recieved rave reviews and the only items that were brought back from the event was the macaroni salad that the oldest sister attempted to make with thousand island dressing and the jello/whip cream desert that the youngest sister made. I felt kind of bad for my sisters, but was very proud of my success at a last minute rush to feed over a hundred people. Hrm, I don't have many. Just a short while ago I tried to make some pancakes and bacon for my kids and my husband before we had to rush out to an important roadtrip. I ended up burning all the food, so we had to run through the McDonalds Drive-Thru and get some greasy fast food that tasted really good. So far, I haven't food poisoned myself or anyone else.