I'm in my mid-twenties, married, and a teacher of middle school language arts. I love reading, cooking, and being outside, but my driving passion is following and serving Jesus Christ. I enjoy challenges and learning new things in the kitchen - I don't know that I have any favorites. My husband and I both enjoy Asian and Indian cuisine, so I especially love the challenge of preparing ethnic foods. My latest thing is marinades and salad dressings - not sure why, it's just fun to make your own (and SO much tastier)! My mom is a wonderful cook - mostly Southern style. My favorite smell in the world is homemade bread fresh from the oven because she has always made the best! Christmas holds some of my favorite family cooking traditions: Mom's chocolate chip tea cake for breakfast and Dad's baked ham with pineapple, cherries, and cloves for lunch (which makes fantastic ham 'n eggs too) - delicious! One of my husband's favorites was when I was able to make a three layered banana cake complete with homemade cream cheese icing and actually keep it together (no sliding!). I also recently learned how to make beef vegetable stew that had an amazing flavor - almost as good as Mom's! Because my mom is such a good cook, most of what she does is by memory. She doesn't have much actually written down. So when I go to duplicate what Mom's always done, it can create some pretty embarassing results. I still cannot make edible potato salad - you'd think that would be pretty easy.