I'm a New York native who's cravings reflect my upbringing. In NYC, you literally have every type of food you can think of and so I collect recipes from all different ethnic cultures and love to experiment. I love stir frys and salads...all kinds, greens/beans/pasta. I'm barely getting into using my slowcooker. My mother is a very diverse cook so there were never cooking traditions except for the holidays. My mother is the best cook I know and when I got her recipes for my favorite foods, I felt I could never compare to her. I've since learned that I can't compare to her, but I am the next generation adding my favorite ingredients/variations to her dishes. People harrass me for my lumpia (Filipino spring rolls) so I know the apple didn't fall too far from the tree. I attempted to make a nice dinner for a date. Swedish meatballs...how hard could it be? I had a recipe on hand but did something wrong somewhere and it came out very soupy! What's even worse was my date then proceeded to tell me where I went wrong. It was embarrassing!