Chef #221488

about me

I love to cook. I can't wait for the day when my husband and I move from our apartment into a fully loaded professional kitchen (with a house around it!!). I work in the health and wellness field and so try to balance my love of rich chocolate (especially bittersweet) and other desserts with light entrees featuring plenty of lean protein and vegetables. I collect more recipes than I have time to make in a lifetime (and am always on the lookout for more!). For fun, when I'm not searching for recipes (God bless the internet, epicurious and recipezaar), I'm spending time with my husband and on the road making weekend trips to visit family in neighboring states (and trying out recipes on them - gotta take advantage of having more people around!). Pet peeves? Fast food and people who say they don't have time to cook with their family and make nutritious meals, but spend 3 hours watching tv instead.... rant :|

Favorite Foods:

I'm really into all things colorful... I LOVE it when my plate is filled with colorful food (e.g. salmon, mango salsa, sauteed spinach). My husband just bought me a grill so we're enjoying all things grilled lately (love that Weber Baby Q!). I love cooking salmon. I also love whipping up healthy breakfast foods (gotta start the day right!). I'm famous for my cookies, and have been since I was about 12... the key is to slightly underbake - and forget adding milk and vanilla... I should be famous for egg whites as I go through about 3 dozen a week :0 My favorite restaurant currently is Osteria Via Stato here in Chicago. It's a great restaurant where you're served several courses with about a dozen samplers of authentic Italian "tapas", a fantastic dinner, and wine paired with each course. What I love most is that dinner takes about 2 hours!! When do we ever eat so leisurely? My other favorite restaurant is my mom's kitchen... she just completed a fabulous kitchen renovation and has a recipe habit like me (or rather, I take after her)... everything served in her kitchen just tastes better because it's being shared with among family in the comfort of home

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