My style of cooking is all about experimentation. I like to take ideas from restaurants, cookbooks, and what I'm in the mood for that night and blend it all together into a new recipe. I love to try food and wine from various cultures and living in a city makes that much easier. My favorite thing in cooking is playing with flavors. I like to take something thats made everyday like tuna salad and literally spice it up so that its my own. I really enjoy cooking pasta dishes, soups and stews, caseroles, and small appetizers. I am greatly influenced by Italian and Asian cuisine. My mother is the everyday cook in our house. She has a rotating list of delicious and budget friendly meal options for every season. My father however is the holiday chef. He does everything from appetizers to dessert table. I have slowly worked my way into his holiday routine from potato masher to being in charge of various side dishes and the go-to-girl for assessing the perfection of the Thanksgiving stuffing. My father is probably most famous for his "Mountain Apple Pie" and the ever popular thick homemade eggnog with a big kick. Friends and family are always showing up Christmas Eve for finger food extravaganza and of coarse eggnog! My husband and I were challenged my his siblings to cook a full meal for 7 people with an unknown assortment of squashes and cheese, chicken breasts, and other random food items. We were only able to add things like flour, salt and pepper, sugar, milk, lettuce for salad, etc. We were not allowed to add any new main ingedients. Our finished menu was a sundried tomato and blue cheese salad, blended butternut squash soup, cheesy chicken,and spagetti squash caserole, and for dessert an acorn squash pie. My husband and I tried to make wedding cookies for christmas presents and we over ground the nuts so that when the cookies finished cooking they crumbled like dried sand b/c of all the extra oil.