Daniele1969

about me

I live in Rockville, MD which is 20 minutes north of Washington DC. I love to cook, read, go bike riding with my Hubby, Salsa dancing with Hubby, cook out with all our friends and travel. My favorite cookbook is one my mother wrote, From My Grandmother's Kitchen by Viviane Miner. It is a Safardic cookbook and has every single recipe my mother has ever made. I used to have a BIG black cat named Danzig, but he passed away the summer of 2005. We now have 2 cats, a calico who is mostly white (AH! White hair everywhere)and a black and white "Tuxedo" cat (He looks like he's wearing black tuxedo tails) They're names...Lilo and Stitch! And as pet-peeves go - why can't people use the ear piece for their cell phones when driving their cars?!

I was never really into cooking when I was younger. Even when I was just out of college, I was living on Can openers and Mircowaves. I don't even know when the change happened. All of a sudden, I wanted to cook. I wanted to bring joy to everyone'e mouths. I wanted to be.....a chef. Well, I've come a long way from the can opener; I put it down and just never looked back. Now the microwave is just a big defroster and I use the can opener occasionally (hey, friends are friends! Just because I grew doesn't mean I had to completely dump my old friends. Right?).

Favorite Foods:

My husband and I are HUGE Pasta Freaks so I love to create new pasta sauces or redo old ones. My all time favorite food is corn (yes, corn). I used to make this concoction when I was in High school that sounds REALLY gross but tasted SOOO good! It had a can of drained tuna, a can of drained corn, 1 large chopped tomato, a soupspoon of mayo and lots of grated cheddar cheese. Microwave it and eat it with crackers. Come on, I was in high school.

But the dish I am famous for is really a dip - 6 Layer Dip. It's the 7 Layer without the refried beans. Everytime we have a cookout with friends, I am COMMANDED by everyone to make it.

My husband is from El Salvador and I have learned some really awesome recipes from my MIL (Mother-In-Law) but when we go out, our favorite restaurant used to be Costa del Sol in Bethesda, MD, but they closed their doors sometime in 2005; the food was from Central America. If you ever get the chance, taste a Pupusa. They are made with either cheese and meat or just cheese, but WAY to hard for me to make. I watched my MIL and 2 SIL make them from scratch and just watching, I felt overwhelmed.

I also love to make Middle Eastern food (Morroccan, Turkish, Egyptian, etc.). These are some serious comfort foods for me. The flavors, the smells, they remind me of being a kid and helping my mom cook... well, they just remind me of being a kid, really.

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