I'm a social scientist living near Washington, DC. Lots of extracurriculars in our family, so brand new recipes are tried on the weekends when I can pay attention. Indian, Thai, Italian and things with wonderful seasonings. Also French, especially southern/Provencal French foods, is becoming a new focus. In the summer I love fresh tomatoes, corn, peaches, berries, and other locally grown ingredients. We need to pay attention to calories and cholesterol at our house. I generally like low-sugar-low-white carb meals. My family traditions for food were very mixed, including eastern European/Jewish foods. My mother has always been an excellent home cook. Husband's family taught me many wonderful midwest USA goodies, especially vegetables and mashed potatoes. Ethnic meals, especially east Asian and northern Italian, made for parties or as thank you gifts. A whole baked chicken, fully boned then stuffed with prosciutto, pine nuts and veal was particularly spectacular. Several years spent with an oven that did not really work correctly left me with many tragedies!