Top, left to right: Chocolate Chip Cookies, Homemade Beef Stroganoff, Biscuits & Gravy, Cheese Ball preparation, Cheddar Bay Biscuits and Chocolate Chip Cookie Dough.

I have always liked to cook but I never really "practiced" my skills. I can contribute my knowledge of the basics and then some to my father, a chef. I have grown up in the restaurant lifestyle. Cooking whatever I wanted, having the best of the best at my fingertips. Now being a wife and Tom actually home - I have really tried to "become domesticated." Having Tom home after 14 months in prison has been an adjustment period. You have to adjust with housework, communication, simple things like television and food. Cooking for myself while Tom was gone was chicken, chicken and more chicken. I just love chicken. But most of the time I just went out to eat. So now that Tom is home I have dusted off the pots and pans, busted out the crock pot and have really taken a liking to cooking for Tom. I usually kick Tom out of the kitchen while I prepare whatever it may be. When we traveled to Idaho Falls two weeks ago we picked up two cookbooks from Barnes & Nobles which I have been digging through and along with Pinterest (http://pinterest.com/ajungaretti/) our dinners have been different every night. I have tried my hand at Cheddar Bay Biscuits, Biscuits & Gravy, Homemade Beef Stroganoff, Chicken Alfredo Lasagna, Onion Bleu Cheese Sauce, Cheese Balls, Buffalo Chicken Cupcakes, Banana Nut Bread, Chocolate Crumb Bars, Chocolate Chip Cookies and much more. Tom's favorites have been Buffalo Chicken Cupcakes, and it's a toss up between Banana Nut Bread and Chocolate Chip Cookies. I always try to cook from scratch, with extra help from products like Bisquick and such. That first bite Tom takes at dinner I always hold my breath. I am afraid he won't like it. I am afraid it would be a flop. Out of all the things I have made, the cheese balls have been the flop. But that's okay. Cooking is something I never thought I would enjoy so much for him. I once thought that we would do it together, but I like to make the masterpieces and kick him out. The grocery store has become a weekly destination and we have gone through more milk and flour than you could believe. During the adjustment period of Tom coming home it has made me realize that marriage takes effort and its the little things that count. While I enjoyed cooking when my dad owned his own restaurant it  seems so much more important to cook a good meal for my husband. Isn't that what wives should be, a chief in the kitchen, maid in the living room and a whore in the bedroom, right? Maybe not such a "maid" but you get what I mean. Chief in the kitchen is what I am going for. I want to be that wife where my husband is like, "My wife is a wonderful cook."