For me, food is more than just fuel, it's an experience. The act of preparing food thru cooking & baking is as nurturing and necessary as the act of eating. I need to cook, not just to eat, but to live. But I don't enjoy overly complicated recipes or meals. Simple recipes, quality ingredients, and variety - that's how I like to cook. First and foremost - Soup!!! I love to make soup, from the stock up! Secondly, anything that requires me to use my beautiful blue, 7 quart Le Creuset dutch oven. Somehow everything prepared in that pot tastes better. Some of my most treasured memories are of my Ukranian grandmother and great-grandmother's meals. Borscht, perogies, pyryshky... No other foods evoke such tender memories. I am a self-proclaim Soup Queen. Hopefully I am worthy of sitting on my grandmother's throne (that sounds funny!) I also have a knack with marinades - I have given away many marinade recipes over the years. Since moving to Calgary, Alberta, I have had limited success with doughs and pastries. I have found pie pastry to be difficult to work with and have had zero success in getting pizza dough to rise - yet both of these things I used to just whip up when I lived in Winnipeg. Hmmm...