After I graduated from college (Iowa State University), I headed west and settled in the beautiful city of Seattle. I am loving getting to know the city and patronizing the wonderful farmers markets in the area. I had my first experience with a CSA last summer and enjoyed using local produce and trying new ingredients to feed my husband and me. I love the idea of supporting the local farmers, eating organic and also try new foods while mixing up my cuisine. I enjoy cooking, baking, reading, writing, spending time with friends and family, exercising, skiing, and being outside. Homemade pizza is a staple in my household! This is a terrific way to change things up and mix & match the different toppings - the pizzas in my house are always 1/2 mine and 1/2 his because our tastes are so very different! Breakfast is another favorite of mine. I love starting the weekend with a big Saturday breakfast. Some favorites are any type of omelets; bacon, egg and cheese biscuits (homemade biscuits of course) and fluffy buttermilk pancakes with real maple syrup. Lately we have been specializing in fresh scrambles with from-scratch hash browns, scrambled eggs and whatever else is in the fridge. When I was a toddler I would sit up on the counter with my dad and cook breakfast everyday. He'd even let me crack the eggs. I attribute my love of cooking to my fond memories of cooking with my dad. Now that I'm grown, we still love to be in the kitchen together. He makes the best pumpkin pie on Thanksgiving. I am most proud of my successful Thanksgiving meals. The best turkey I ever made was courtesy of Alton Brown on the Food Network, but everything else came from you folks at allrecipes.com! My food was so delicious and I was very proud of myself. I love experimenting with new cuisines and I try to incorporate as many cultural dishes into my weekly menu as possible. Oh there was only one real tragedy. I tried making ravioli from scratch. After spending the better half of the day making ravioli dough and filling I was very disappointed when it turned out tasting like paste. It was disgusting. Then, to top it off, I set the bread on fire under the broiler. I have never had a worse day in the kitchen. I think I went without dinner that night because I was so upset.