TXUKGal
Home Town:
Member Since:
May 2001
Cooking Level:
Intermediate
Cooking Interests:
Baking, Stir Frying, Slow Cooking, Asian, Mexican, Southern, Healthy, Dessert, Quick & Easy
Hobbies:
Scrapbooking, Gardening, Walking, Photography, Reading Books, Music, Genealogy, Charity Work
I have been living in England since 2005 when I moved here with my husband from Texas. I am a Texas girl through and through and it was hard to give up some of my favourite foods such as Tex Mex. I did manage to find ingredients to make my favourite Tex Mex meals, though I still can't find corn meal which is a bit of a bummer. I love to bake "American" style here and my friends and co-workers love the different kinds of treats. I love seeing people happy as they eat something delicious that I've cooked. I also love to be creative when cooking and it really helps me de-stress.
My favorite things to cook
I love to cook Tex-Mex food. Sometimes it's hard to source some of the ingredients but I usually find a way :).
I've really begun to love baking. It's an added challenge making my US recipes work with UK ingredients. I do a lot of baking for family and friends and I love to see people enjoying what I've baked.
My favorite family cooking traditions
The only real "tradition" that stands out to me is to make little cinnamon pinwheels with leftover pie crust. I remember my grandma doing that after making apple pie and it is a really fond memory. It's a tradition that I would like to carry on one day.
My cooking triumphs
Currently, my cooking triumph would be the Christmas gift baskets that I made this year. I made snickerdoodles, chocolate chocolate chip peanut cookies, lemon snowballs, pecan tassies, kris kringles, fudge, peppermint brittle and chocolate cherry cookies! They were a huge success and I'm pleased that people were happy with them.
Aside from that, I would say just being able to transition my US recipes using UK ingredients. It took me a bit to figure out how the flour here is different and which types to use but now my baking is pretty successful and I'm pleased.
Also, anytime someone is happy with what I've made, that is a triumph!
My cooking tragedies
Sometimes, no matter what you do, a recipe just doesn't work. I've had a few times where I just couldn't get it right. However, I usually keep trying until I get it right or at least passable.