I'm an archaeology student currently in grad school, and I bake and cook for my fiance in order to relax (and procrastinate). My mom is a great baker and taught me all about baking when I was small, so that's really my forte. I'm just now expanding my skills to include actual meals. I make fresh bread every week - so much cheaper and tastier than storebought. I consider pies (with homemade crust, of course) to be my speciality. I love to make anything that makes people happy and satiated. Every friday was baking day for my mom. There are special treats I associate with every holiday - cinnamon rolls on Christmas morning, Easter bread, and pound cake with hot fudge sauce on my birthday. My future mom-in-law is an amazing cook who produces traditional Italian and Slovak food from scratch by the barrelfull. And she's teaching me her secrets! I hope to give my family as much homemade love as they did. I am particularly proud of the flan I made for Christmas Eve (using a recipe from this site, of course). My fiance also raves about my naan bread. Most of my cooking triumphs originate with recipes from allrecipes. The first time I tried to make bread, I not only undercooked the bread, so it was still doughy inside when I cut into it (note: at that point there is no point in trying to bake it further, just throw it away, trust me), I also gave myself two two-degree burns on my arms when the oven door shut on them.