I am 26 years old. I am the proud mother of a 9 year old son. A little over a year ago I dedicated the majority of my spare time to cooking. I am the happiest when I am in the kitchen trying out new recipes. I love cooking for my family and friends. I would love to go to culinary school and become a great chef. Cooking has turned from just a hobby to a passion of mine. I also enjoy writing, tasting new wines, traveling to new places and spending my weekends at home with my family. Some of my favorite things are Egg Nog Lattes from Starbuck's (too bad they're a seasonal item), myspace, Guitar Hero, reading my "Bible Verse of the Day" desk calendar, inspirational quotes, cleaning my kitchen (I love dish soap!), going out to dinner and my job! Chicken! I make it a point to try at least two new recipes a week. I also love anything that requires cheese! I tend to cook more healthy dishes than unhealthy dishes. Don't get me wrong, every now and then all I want is some delicious "comfort food" but I try not to make a habit of it and usually save it for the weekends. We have a lot of family dishes that have been passed down from generation to generation. I always look forward to Thanksgiving because that's the day we cook together as a family. Perfecting my family's Caldo de Queso (cheese soup)! Experiencing new foods and experimenting with different flavors. Trying sushi for the first time about 6 months ago and falling in love with it! Now I need to learn to make it on my own! Also, realizing how much I love salmon and learning how to cook with it. Learning about different types of wines and finding out which foods pair nicely with each wine. Having my very first wine and cheese party which I planned and hosted on my own. This past December I spent over $100 buying cookie cutters, cookie sprinkles, rolling pins, pastry mats, flour, eggs, sugar, etc. so that I could bake cookies for my coworkers for Christmas. I carefully chose 8 recipes. I set aside an entire Sunday that would be used for baking. I started about 10:00 am. The first two recipes turned out 'ok' but not great. The third recipe (coconut macaroons) was a complete disaster! They were awful to say the very least. I decided to try the 4th recipe and that was also a disaster. I didn't even bother trying the rest of them. I had baked for about 6 hours and was exhausted and frustrated. I decided that day that I am a cook, not a baker! Now the only thing I will bake is chicken!