I've been tagged!

How fun! I've been tagged by the lovely Lorie of Rice and Beans and Other Fine Things. Lorie is a talented blogger which I have had the good fortune to "meet" through cooking contests. Although we have yet to meet at a cook off I feel a kindred spirit with her and the other fine people with whom I have crossed paths through my fun hobby.

7 Things I did before:

1. Way back in my youth (which is rapidly becoming way, way back) I flipped burgers and took orders at McDonalds-which I loved. In fact I've often thought the title of my memoir will be Everything I Learned About Life I Learned Working at McDonalds...similar to the kindergarten theory Robert Fulghum gave us.
2. Worked for an advertising agency in New York
3. Worked as a research analyst for Ski Magazine and Golf Magazine
4. Loved kickboxing until it gave me tennis elbow and ruined my serve...so I stopped-I loved tennis more.
5. I was the president of my children's elementary school PTO.
6. I was the president of my town's Newcomer's club.
7. I Graduated from Fordham Universtiy

7 Things I do now:

1. I am painting the entire interior of our house...not fun.
2. Enter cooking contests-while I have been distracted lately and haven't entered much, I do have a winning recipe in this month's issue of Cook's Country and I will have a winning entry appearing in January's Simple and Delicious magazine.
3. I spend a great deal of time chauffeuring one or more of my kids to Irish dance, feis (Irish dance competitions), baseball and karate.
4. I cook for a woman's shelter housed in our church.
5. I'm trying really hard to either go to the gym or play tennis every day.
6. I Write this blog.
7. I Christmas shop (one of my friends has gotten me obsessed with finishing Christmas shopping before Halloween that way it's possible to actually enjoy the holidays without running around).

7 things I would like to do:

1. Go to Ireland and stay in a castle.
2. Start playing the guitar again.
3. Invent something.
4. Write something.
5. Visit every state in the United States. (I have a long way to go)
6. Make an apple pie as perfectly as my mother used to make-I lost my mother unexpectedly this year and among the many things I will miss are her delicious pies...seems silly probably, but true.
7. Make sure that when my children leave home for college and life that they know that what you become is not nearly as important as the kind of person you become.

7 things that attract me to the opposite sex:

1. He's not afraid to wear a pink shirt. When I met my husband he was wearing a pink shirt-he looked incredibly handsome in it and I love it when he wears pink now.
2. He has a good sense of humor. (But seriously Honey, you know the joke about the tuna fish stuffed Twinkies? The kids and I are kind of done with it. Yeah. Thanks.)
3. He is not afraid to show people he loves them.
4. He is a patient teacher and a passionate learner.
5. He's not afraid to "play hooky" sometimes-leave the household whatnot and just hop in the car, just me and him, and get butter drenched Lobster Rolls at Abbott's Lobster in the Rough.
6. He respects peoples differences.
7. He's loving with his(our) children.
(And how lucky am I that I married someone who is all those things?)

7 foods I love:

1. Eggplant Rollatini
2. Summer tomatoes with just a sprinkling of salt
3. BLTs
4. Grilled boneless ribeye steak seasoned with cracked pepper and salt cooked medium rare
5. New York pizza (Umbertos on Jericho Turnpike comes to mind)
6. Chocolate cake with vanilla frosting
7. Soup

7 things I say most often:

1. It's all fun and games 'til someone loses an eye.
2. Are you kidding me?
3. te amo
4. Did you finish your homework?
5. Do you have your cellphone?
6. Where are my keys?
7. Please don't fool around while you are eating, Amy N. choked on a grape I don't want that to happen to you.

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Now the fun part...I get to pass it along! Please understand that you do not have to do the whole shebang-especially if you've done it before...just accept the award as a token of my gratitude for providing me with late-night reading pleasure!

Lisa from Jersey Girl Cooks - also a cooking contest friend of mine and one with whom I have cooked along side at several cook-offs. She is a talented cook and blogger and a really nice person!
Cat from Cat's Pajamas - I enjoy reading about her soldier's wife life perhaps because for a few years when my husband and I were first married I was a military wife myself.
Julie from Peanut Butter and Julie - another contest cooking friend who is extraordinarily talented.
Mary from One Perfect Bite - sorry for the trend here, but another contesting colleague with a pretty blog!
And last but by no means least Robin Sue from The Big Red Kitchen whose delicious recipes and occasional video clips have me always coming back for more.

See you later with a tasty recipe!!