Although I have been cooking for more than 15 years, I've grown to really love it in the past 7 or 8 years. I love to cook things that are visually appealing, in addition to being pleasing to the palate. Italian inspired dishes, as well as comfort foods that are enhanced to bring out even richer flavor. I also love to cook dishes that are especially hot and spicy! Growing up, we were a meat and potatoes kind of family. Every night my mom prepared a meat, a starch, and a vegetable. Although I don't cook the same way my mother did, I do bring her idea of bringing a combination of textures, colors, and flavors into my own menu plans. The first time I cooked fish to perfection. It was the Mainely Fish recipe featured on this site. I love all types of fish and seafood, but cooking it well has always been a challenge for me. Since then, practice has definitely made preparing delicious seafood much easier for me, and much more rewarding for those who share my dinners with me! I love to cook, but I'm not much of a baker. However, at one time I was experimenting quite a bit with baking a variety of cakes. While the basic cakes turned out okay, one day I decided to make a strawberry banana split cake from scratch. It sounded delectable on paper, but in reality mine turned out to be so heavy it would have broken the toe of anyone who happened to drop the thing on their foot! Now I leave the fancy cakes to the experts at my local bakery!