Cooking relaxes me. I like watching ingredients evolve into a delicious meal. I like being experimental and imaginative. I often look at existing recipes for fundamental cooking principles on a new dish, and then add or alter them to my taste or to make them my own. I often overseason when I cook for myself, so that I can become familiar with the tastes of the spices. I love an attractive presentation and plate arrangement-it's all in the details! I love to cook using ingredients from the local farmers market. Italian food is my favorite to cook; I LOVE to chop tomatoes. My grandpa makes the best homemade scalloped potatoes on the planet. I cooked dinner for 30 people for a housewarming party for my Mom, and everything turned out perfectly! I also created a pumpkin cookie recipe last fall that is to die for-my roommates couldn't get enough! I accidentally mis-measured for a spinach dip once and used more than triple the ingredient-it was potent (and really gross)!