My joys include my two children, fiance, my two greyhounds, and of course, cooking! In the South, as I'm sure it is in many places, food is love and nourishing our families is an expression of love. I'm a pastry chef, so baking is my passion. I absolutely love baking breads, cakes, cookies, scones and all sorts of pastries. I'm the official cupcake Mom at my children's school. :) My favorite family cooking traditions are centered around the holidays. There's nothing like a table full of homemade cookies, cakes, pralines,and especially my family's traditional homemade fudge! I'm known for my bread and cheesecake. Anytime there's a family dinner I'm asked to bring the bread and dessert. Before, I'd say that perfect chocolate or red velvet cake that opened the door to having my own business. Now a triumph is getting a thumbs up from my family at the end of a meal. Many, many years ago, I deglazed a very hot pyrex dish that held a very expensive, and very pain-stakingly roasted leg of lamb. The instant the deglazing liquid hit the pyrex dish it broke into hundreds of shards of glass! You live and learn!