I originally hail from the windswept prairies of the Dakotas, where I developed a love of cooking and baking from my mother and grandmothers. Went to college, fell in love, got married and moved with DH to hot and humid Houston. I pursue a boring desk job by day and enjoy heating up our apartment kitchen and exploring the city (and it's many fabulous eateries) in my spare time.

I had a good friend in high school whose parents were hippies. Compared to my rural ranch family, they had all sorts of interesting things in their house, ranging from stinky incense to organic chlorophyll-based breath drops for their dog, Parsley. We tasted the chlorophyll drops, but they were fairly unremarkable.

I'm probably too late to the party, but I'll second the suggestion of finding some good homemade knoephla soup! I'd kill for a bowl here in Texas! Also, grab some lefse from refrigerated section of a local grocery store--try it rolled with a little cinnamon sugar, butter, and warmed in the microwave! YUM!

Also, a lot of the upper midwest is beef country! Have your wife hit up a local mom and pop steakhouse. The sides probably won't be fancy, but they'll be sincere and delicious!

Hmmm, this reminds me that I've still got a bottle of Trader Vic's macadamia nut liqueur at home. Received it as a Christmas gift and haven't come up with many ways to use it...

I mailed chocolates to the fam back home and made dinner for DH. Roast beef tenderloin with shallots and a red wine reduction, steamed white asparagus, creamed spinach, and strawberries dipped in chocolate--it was pretty low-key and delicious.

We had clean-out-everything-that-might-go-bad-while-we're-traveling-for-the-holidays dinner: steak, mushrooms, sauteed spinach, creamed carrots and a few roasted potatoes.

I think it would take forever to get the dough thawed to a point where you could easily mix anything else into it--can't imagine it would be a time-saver in the long-run.

I'd mix them all up at once and try freezing it with the add-ins already incorporated or just mix and bake immediately.

I wish I had that problem--instead, I am borderline obsessed with all things cranberry. I finished off our leftover cranberry sauce on Saturday night. I made another batch on Sunday and have almost finished it, too.

Hosted a lovely dinner party with friends to showcase what I learned at cooking school in Florence. Spent all afternoon making beautiful pumpkin ravioli, roasting stuffed pork loin, and a decadent chocolate cake.

Picture it: the guests begin to arrive, wine is poured, I brown butter for the pasta sauce and add a little water from the pasta pot (just like I learned in class). My fatal flaw was forgetting to remove the super-hot butter from the burner first. Browned butter bits spattered EVERYWHERE. Luckily (?), I made it through with only some minor spatter burns and one terrifically bruised ego.

I grew up on the wide-open prairies of South Dakota and nearly one year ago moved with my husband to an apartment situated amidst the high-rises of hot and humid Houston.

Off topic, but when I read the title of this post, I really thought someone was planning a Dead Chef-themed Halloween party. I immediately pictured a zombie Paula Deen...

Back in college, I used to throw quarterly food-centric gatherings for friends. It started as a mere pie party in my freshmen dorm; by sophomore year, the cream puff social expanded to the community room in our residence hall. As a senior, my roommate and I rented out a portion of the college's student center to host a Christmas party. For this final soiree, we made ourselves aprons; mine said "The Hostess". Even as an old married lady, I still like to break out my kitschy apron when we have friends over.

Nope, but not because it's too fatty/caloric/greasy/etc. I hate mayo and mayo-related sauces. Blech.