My name is Melissa, but everyone knows me as Missy. I am 29 years old and grew up in Chicago, Illinois. I now own a home in Hoffman Estates and I share my life with my loving partner Becca, our 9 year old son Christian, and our 6 month old daughter Phoebe. I graduated from The Cooking and Hospitality Institute and I now work as a Chef in a senior living community. It is rewarding to me to be able to prepare nutritious, and good food for them. I enjoy reading tremendously and, of course, cooking. I recently decided that vegetarianism was the way for me so I'll be looking for some great recipes here! I love to try new recipes. I am always searching online for new ideas and this is the first time I have ever joined a recipe site. I love food from other cultures. I take a particular interest in middle eastern foods. My father is Puerto Rican, so when I was growing up, my mother cooked a lot of spanish food. It's all very good, but also very unhealthy. A lot of frying going on...so I try to steer away from that. I have had a lot of professional training, so I can use many techniques and methods for a variety of foods. I think my strongest area would have to be soups. I am pretty good at making any kind of soup. Baking! I'm not horrible, actually, I'm pretty good, but I have this anxiety when it comes to baking. I learned in school that baking is a science, and if you don't get it just right, your resulting product will suffer. So I am always so worried when I bake something.