I met my hubby, Martin, while he was a foreign exchange student in America when we were 16 years old. 6 years later, I left everything I had to start a new life here with him in Berlin, Germany. We were married in Dec. 2006, and therefore, I need to cook. Now, we have a baby (born April 7, 2008) and it's really important that I learn to cook healthy meals for my family. It is a bit difficult to cook here in Germany for me, since some of the ingredients I cooked with in America are nonexistent here. :-( There are not many diet foods here, and that is what I lived on in America. So, now I have to watch portion control instead of just buying diet bread, butter, cheese, and Lean Cuisines, lol! I love to bake desserts, which is not a good thing considering that I try very hard to watch my weight. My hubby is naturally skinny (I am SO jealous), so I am able to watch him eat tons of food. Learning how to cook using less fat is important for me more than ever now that our daughter is here. My mom didn't cook very much, and the only times we really got delicious Southern food was at my grandparents on the weekends, or whenever mom decided to actually do something in the kitchen. Cooking with my grandparents left special memories for me. Time goes by too fast. As a teenager, I decided to start cooking on my own, so sometimes I would cook for my sister, mom, and myself. Mom says she doesn't know where I got it from, but I have a knack for it. I just need to learn to do it in a healthier way. I burnt cookies a couple of times, but that is really about it. Things mostly always turn out edible, at least.