About Me
I live in beautiful wine country, Northern California, on the edge of state forest. My husband and I are in our 30s and recently had our first child. Not long ago, I resigned as a retail store manager to return to college; I am in the culinary arts program and am also studying Health Sciences with a focus on Nutrition. I would love to open my own local, organic, in-season restaurant some day! I enjoy riding my motorcycle and snowboarding (when not with-child), camping, classic and hard rock music, tattoos, singing, and *of course* fiddling in my kitchen!
My favorite things to cook
Skillet dinners, chicken, vegetables, rice, pasta, cookies, quick breads, Italian, Asian, mac & cheese, mushroom or broccoli Alfredo. I like to experiment and try new things; I'll try to cook just about anything! Except red meat. I stopped eating it when I was about 13, and now eat it only very rarely.
My favorite family cooking traditions
My parents have always had lots of food at family get-togethers! Such a selection of food that there's hardly room for plates at the table: nuts, cheeses, wings, beans, meats, veggies and many other side dishes, cakes, cookies, pies, etc-there's something for everyone! There's no excuse if you go hungry at one of our family functions. There's always good food, drinks, people and laughs :D
My cooking triumphs
It's nice to be able to throw things together on the fly without having to make a trip to the grocery store. Learning the methods of cooking have made it easier and my food tastes better. I never have dry chicken breasts, pork chops or burgers anymore! Dec 2012: I finally made fudge that set properly!
My cooking tragedies
Trying out new recipes that don't taste right or I don't care for. Or turning my back to do 10 things at once and burning something. Mistakes = lessons learned. Sometimes you have to do a little trial-and-error to get something how you like it.
