I'm 21 and live in Central California. I am originally from Toronto where I grew up in a big Portuguese-Italian family. Food was EVERYTHING to us, it's what brought all of us together. I began my cooking experience by helping my grandmother in the kitchen growing up and then learning from my step-mom how to make some delicious Italian meals. I continued cooking throughout my teenage years where my friends and roommates would always volunteer me to make dinner. I'm recently a newlywed and to this day love to cook, but boy did I sure marry a picky eater. It also doesn't help that my mother-in-law is an amazing cook that never measures anything! So my challenges have been learning how to make some of his favorite Mexican and southern dishes her way. Other than cooking and spending time with the family I love watching Real Housewives of NJ & OC, Desperate Housewives and The Kardashians. We don't have any kids so if we're not doing something together my guilty pleasures are my DVR shows =) Anything Italian, especially homemade red sauce. I also love making different soups and stews. That is one thing that I noticed that a lot of American families lack compared to European so it has been my mission to start some traditions in our family. Currently we make tamales at Christmas time and starting last year all of the girls get together and make all kinds of desserts before Thanksgiving for our family feast. Mastering how to make Albondigas! Like I said, I married a tough critic and this is the one thing that I can make that he refers to as my "World Famous Abondigas." Yesss! Trying to copy my grandmother's Portuguese chicken and potato stew. It was my first shot at having Hubby try one of my childhood dishes and I'll admit it turned out pretty bad. That's one of the things I'll be paying attention to how she makes next time she visits.