My name is Sarah and I live in Austin TX. I'm 26 years old and have lived in Texas for 15 years (Texans are the friendliest!). My family's roots are in the Northeast, though, from Vermont and Massachusetts. My favorite things to cook are traditional meals I learned from watching my parents put together our family feasts. Whether it was Thanksgiving, Christmas, or Easter, our fare was simple but delicious. Roast chicken, beef & pork, and mountains of fresh vegetables; green vegetable salads, steamed beans and broccoli, baked beans, mashed and slow roasted potatoes and carrots. And I can't forget the coffee, tea, and dessert - homemade pastry and fresh breads and cakes. With the exception of the desserts (I'm a novice in that department) I love cooking this hearty food. Some of my favorite memories from childhood are from the Holidays when the day focused around the celebration of the family and our togetherness. We gave thanks to each other by making the day an ordered ritual of family life. Preparing dishes, setting the table, washing, basting, rolling dough, chopping, searing, etc. This was all done in a spirit of calm and happiness that we were going to eat together. It may sound simplistic but it's the people you eat with that makes the meal worthwhile, right? One of my cooking triumphs was a New Year's Eve Party that I was jointly throwing with a friend of mine over at his house. We knew we were going to have about 30+ people. We needed drinks, ice, cutlery and plates, glasses, and the meal. We ended up having a feast of Roast beef, honey ham, mashed potatoes, yams, mushrooms and green onions, & homemade rolls. I didn't think we could get everyone fed but we did - and it was good! I have had too many cooking tragedies to count, unfortunately. It's the habit of wanting to re-purpose leftovers and to "spice-up" a recipe that makes it happen, but I think I'm getting better. But it's definitely why I can't call myself a great cook - I'm not orthodox enough. I just need to learn where experimenting can go awry!