A little about me, I am a wife and Mum of two gorgeous boys aged 16 and 22, and now mummy to two adorable English Cocker Spaniel puppies named Brie and Henri. We have been living in the US now for 4 years. (You will also see me on allrecipes.co.uk - AR's UK site). I guess like most other European’s I don’t eat to live, but live to eat!!! One of my great passions in life is food. Good home cooked, fresh produce. Especially if it is sourced locally. I truly believe that it is so important at the end of the day for a family to sit down and eat a home cooked dinner together. I spend a lot of my time in the kitchen now, which always amuses my husband. A few years back we had a small public house and restaurant in the Derbyshire Countryside (England). Never once would I venture in the kitchen. With all those professionals there was certainly no need for an amateur! Should you wish you can contact me at my.apple.strudel@comcast.net More than anything I adore baking. Cakes, Cookies (or biscuits as they are known to me) and my latest love is baking bread. Some of my earlier memories are sitting at my Grandma’s kitchen table in England, watching her bake. She insisted on having to bake a fresh cake everyday. My Grandad was a big cake fan, and a cake always had to be kept in the pantry just in case a visitor should call. Not that you could move in the pantry for more sugar, flour and butter then any village store. (Just in case food rationing ever came back). On my recent visit to England, I asked my Grandma what she had done that day. She replied that she had baked a huge apple cake for my Grandad. Unfortunately my Grandad has not been with us for over 12 years and my Grandma would not be allowed in the kitchen in the nursing home she now lives. Her mind is not what it used to be years back, but I just love how she still holds on to her happy memories of baking. Unfortunately my Grandma has recently passed away, but her passion for baking will always live on through me and I hope that in time my baking skill will do her justic Anything that actually turns out how it is supposed too!!! Oh my goodness where do I start, like everyone I have had the usual tragedies, sponge cakes that have sunk in the middle, over cooked pie crusts, bread that has just failed to rise but I can thankfully say with a little patience and practice I am finaly getting better!!!