I grew up as a USMC brat in a family of 6. I started cooking at a young age, and as time has gone by, my interest has developed into a passion. I enjoy cooking and baking, and one of my recent ventures has been into the arena of cake decorating. I find cooking and baking a very worthwhile activity to pursue, I view baking and cooking as a labour of love. While I do enjoy "tweaking" recipes, I will always make it as originally stated, it really amuses me when people "massacre" recipes and then rate them so low, so I make it a point to always try the recipe as written the first time around! I host a blog which can be found at thedailygourmet.blogspot.com I love cooking, especially with herbs, thus Italian food is a favourite of mine especially lasagna! I especially love making a red velvet cake, the vibrant red colour is so exquisite when topped with the traditional butter roux frosting -I've been called a "red velvet snob" as I always refuse a red velvet cake that has been frosted with (gasp) cream cheese frosting! Every year on Christmas, mum & dad cook together in the kitchen making an amazing breakfast - pancakes, bacon, sausage, hashbrowns, biscuits and gravy...there's just something comforting about sharing breakfast together on Christmas day. Afterwards I would bake a red velvet birthday cake and then dad would read the real Christmas story and we would then open presents! Developing a recipe for chicken enchilada's that does not use onions! I'm allergic to onions, so I am quite pleased with this recipe! I made a custard pie once, and guess I must have used to much of an ingredient, because my pie crust ended up "floating" to the top of my pie!