My Interests!

I’m Italian so I’m always making pastas, but I enjoy trying out other cuisines. I love going to used book stores and picking up cook books.

My aunt is also a subscriber to the Allrecipies Magazine and she clips and mails me recipes all the time!

Thanksgiving ‘25, I made my first roast duck with an orange brine. The hardest part was carving it, but it ended up delicious!

My “go to” is a pan seared chicken in a cream sauce with spinach and tomatoes. It pairs great with fettuccine, rice, or potatoes. Yes, it’s basic, but so versatile and so flavorful.

Cooking:

I got a stand mixer two years ago on Black Friday, and ever since I’ve been trying to conquer my fear of baking.

Better chefs and bakers than me have said that cooking is an art, whereas baking is a science. I promise I know how to follow directions, but my cooking background has left me a little heavy handed and I used to be a disaster when it came to the science of baking!

I know I’ve gotten better because I was “voluntold” to bake 9 dozen lemon cookies on my mother’s behalf for a cookie exchange she was attending over the holidays. She reported back that they were a hit and she didn’t bring any leftovers home. It was quite a tiring task.

I also have some people in my life that prefer spice to sweetness, so I made them some gluten-free Gingerbread Ricciarelli (a soft cookie with a powdered sugar shell). These also turned out to be a hit and now I’m requested to make them for every holiday and get together.

I also included a picture of one of my baking fails, I tried to make a Swiss Roll, but it collapsed on itself. It was still delicious though. I’m excited to give it another try next holiday season.

Baking:

Reading was my first great love. By the time I was in middle school I had read every book in the children’s section of the Palatine Public Library, and a librarian introduced me to Twilight. Then, in 2011 HarperCollins published a ton of classics to look like the cover of New Moon, the second book in the Twilight series, and I was hooked.

I love Shakespeare and Jane Austen, my favorites are The Merchant of Venice and Pride and Prejudice. My favorite poet is Walt Whitman

I’m currently in a few online book clubs, one of which is hosted by a former contestant of Love Island. As much as I love reading old books, I can also get down to some good (bad?) old-fashioned reality TV.

Reading: