Born and raised in PA, spent some time in Japan, and now I live in Kauai. I love being outside- esp at the beach! I love to bake. My mom is a great baker and I try to be as good as she is- unfortunately I fall a bit short! Still, I always bake for friends and coworkers and everyone usually loves it. I also love trying to make Japanese food, which is very conducive to living in Hawaii. My mom and I always baked cookies on snow days. It hasn't happened yet, but I am working on replicating my mom's chocolate chip cookie recipe. Keep your fingers crossed! Also, I often had gyoza making dinner parties with Japanese friends and I have successfully recreated the gyoza that we made. Very oishii! Too many. I think the worst was when I tried to make toast when I was 8, put butter on the bread before I toasted it and set the toaster on fire. I never really follow a recipe, and often had a few too many dashes of something and regret it later (usually salt). But when it happens, I try to eat it and throw out the rest.