21 year old military school cadet who enjoys cooking for my family whenever I get the chance to come home. Chicken... cause I don't really trust myself with other meats! Haha. I'm still somewhat of a rookie and I'm just comfortable with chicken although I have branched out to salmon now and then. I also love savory/tangy foods and use a lot of olive oil and vinegars in my cooking. Although my family is not Jewish, we have been making latkes around Hanukkuh and Christmas time since I was 9, when my Jewish 3rd grade teacher passed out recipes that December! Another favorite tradition is going to my Texas family's home for Thanksgiving and cooking up a storm the few days prior--I just found a perfect pumpkin pie recipe that everyone loved and dubbed "mine", so, new tradition! My very first Christmas ham (large and with pineapple and cherries mmmm...) I made at 19, which I managed without help or supervision or much prior cooking training. To my great surprise it turned out far better than I hoped for (thanks to allrecipes!) and I've been cooking ever since. I haven't had any tragedies yet, but I will say my biggest disappointment so far was the chicken I recently made for a new boyfriend (who had not prior tried my cooking). While edible and just ok tasting, it was probably the worst thing I've made yet--so much for good first impressions! :(