I am Cajun French decent. I enjoy cooking as a hobby, but also enjoy many other activities as well. I love to cook soups! I'm always looking for new soup recipes and ideas. I have several tried and true recipes including gumbo of course! I love to include the delicious Louisiana seafood that is so readily available in my area into my recipes. I also have an incredible recipe for tamales that was given to me many years ago by a coworker. It had been passed down in her family for years. My family and friends mysteriously show up at my door when they hear I'm making tamales. Cooking tradition in my family is cajun/creole. All of my family were born and raised in south Louisiana. We have a saying "first you make a roux", that begins many recipes. We have incorporated heart healthy into our cooking language as well, but still use a roux when only a roux will do! I'm just an ordinary cook trying to preserve my family's cooking heritage by writing down as many recipes and their histories as I can. I have a cookbook I purchased that was blank on the inside. I pass this around to family and friends asking them to write in their favorite recipe and a little bit about it, and themselves. Everyone so far has been very happy to add to my cookbook which has resulted in not only many great recipes for me, but also a history book of many family and friends' traditions. I treasure this book!