I'm slowly finishing my degree in microbiology, and hoping for no more medical leaves! My time with specialists is what peaks my interest, though, so being sick actually pushes me along towards a medical research career. I write poetry and flash fiction, and love translating Spanish poetry into English when I have the energy. My boyfriend and I are celebrating one year of home ownership, which is still hard for us to believe! I also volunteer at a horse rescue, feeding, and LOVE making food for the humans I care for, too! Challah, cookies, roasted veggies, brownies, cakes, pies, danish, guacamole; anything that comes out tasting good enough to justify the effort it took to make! I come from a family of foodies; my memories are intertwined with flavors and aromas, textures against my tongue and burning on my lips. I can plunk a pomegranate onto the coffee table and talk for hours with my sister about our childhood memories involving those ruby seeds. People always gather in the kitchen, and I feel able to amplify their happiness by filling their plates with deliciousness. I've been starting to archive family recipes, with the idea of more easily passing them on to new generations. I have recipes hand-written on scraps of butcher paper that suggest using hat pins to turn things. They amaze me. This year I made Thanksgiving for 12 people, all from scratch- 20lb turkey, 2 kinds of stuffing, 2 kinds of cranberry sauce, homemade breads, potatoes, gravy, the works! Plus a pumpkin pie and a chocolate pecan pie and a sekel pear tart (from Nov's "Gourmet") with all the little poached pears standing, whole, on top of it. Took 3 days, but was SO worth it! I got over-excited making a jello mold for Thanksgiving as a kid, and mixed all the flavors together instead of waiting for each layer to gel. My whole family still makes fun of me for my giant brown jello blob! Also, I've tried to make sticky buns three times since we moved here, and each time I set the oven on fire! I make tons of other stuff just fine, but those sticky buns just burst into flame and I have NO IDEA why!!!