I am 20 years old and I've been cooking since I could hold a spoon. My grandmother taught me how to cook and shared her love of cooking with me. I am so thankful that she did, because cooking is one of my greatest passions. I work full time and go to school part time, so quick and easy meals are a lifesaver. Although, my favorite things to cook are usually the meals that take half a day to prepare. I don't like to get in and get out.. I enjoy spending time in the kitchen! My favorite things to cook are casseroles, soups, side dishes, pasta dishes, and anything with shrimp (not fried)! My grandmother is german, so she has taught me several different german recipes, which I love to cook as well. My favorite cooking traditions would definitely have to be thanksgiving and Christmas. Every year for thanksgiving, I spend at least 3 days in the kitchen with my grandmother. We cook up a huge feast for the whole family. For Christmas, we spend about the same amount of time cooking, but we try to change it up every year. Sometimes, we prepare a bunch of snack-type foods. One year, we made manicotti. Another time, we made authentic enchiladas with all the traditional mexican sides. I enjoy cooking different things for Christmas, because the traditional Christmas food is almost exactly what you ate for thanksgiving just weeks before. I am known in my family for my cooking. I have cooked a LOT of food that has been successful. But one specific time is sticking out for a cooking "triumph". When I was 16 or 17, I perfected a meatloaf recipe I found. It was often requested for dinner. A friend of the family heard that I make an exceptionally good meatloaf, so he challenged me to a meatloaf contest. I made my meatloaf the same way I always did, along with mashed potatoes and some veggies, and he brought his meatloaf over for dinner. We had about 7 people over for dinner and had them judge each meatloaf. Lets just say I came out the winner. There are too many to count. I've baked brownies without eggs, burnt numerous loaves of bread, burnt the bottom of soup pots (which ruins the whole pot of soup), dumped a full salt shaker in cookie dough, etc... I am nowhere near perfect when it comes to cooking, but I am learning more everyday.