I'm a Canadian girl, living in Washington state with my american husband for about 5 years now. I have a 19 year old daughter still living in Canada, a 12 year old son (who's already taller than I am!) and a 16 year old step-son. I love food with a lot of flavor, so mexican, italian, greek are all good. I've never made a bad tasting soup, and I make them alot in the colder months. I have MS, which in my case manifests with fatigue (bad for cooking) and loss of feeling in my hands. (worse!) Because of this I take shortcuts where I can, like using frozen chopped onions, pre-crushed garlic, prepared salads... But I always add my own touches and I use fresh garlic if my husband's home to peel and mince it for me, because the stuff in the jar just isn't the same! My dad's parents were german immigrants, they died long before I was born, but raised their mennonite family (12 kids!) on a farm in Alberta. I guess my dad must have impressed my mom (who's own family hailed from england) with what sorts of foods he liked because she made things like darn good cabbage rolls and homemade perogies when I was young along with more standard north american food. I definately inherited my dad's taste for german food and when I cook it, even my husband will eat a little cabbage now and then. The last time I made yorkshire pudding it finally was PERFECT! It puffed up huge in the muffin cups and they didn't stick to the pans. They fell of course, I wouldn't want them so dry that they stayed inflated, but they held shape around the edges and best of all, they were delicious! So there I am, while the roast, gravy and fixin's are on the table, writing down exactly what I did so I can repeat it next time, with the family sitting there waiting for me. When I was a young woman, just starting to cook I attempted a chicken stir fry. I had onions, broccoli, carrots, chicken, soy sauce and a brand new stove top wok. I guess I threw it all in there and started cooking... I think the chicken was drumsticks... No, there was no poisoning from undercooked chicken, I'd been taught well that chicken and pork should always be fully cooked. So I cooked it, and cooked it, til I was pretty sure the chicken was done, and just to be sure, I cooked it some more. The only thing that comes to mind when trying to describe what it smelled and tasted like is very old, very ripe, very sweaty gym socks. It was the broccoli I think, the apartment reeked of it for weeks. Ever since, I have really disliked broccolli, though I can eat it now, I never have enjoyed it since that meal 20 or so years ago.