I'm eighteen years old, and more comfortable in the kitchen than pretty much everyone in my family. I started helping my mother with food prep as soon as I could wash and peel, and began cooking when I could be trusted with hot equipment and sharp objects. I started experimenting with flavors sans recipe about six years ago, and have never looked back. Anything new! It's hard for me to share my recipes, because my food never comes out the same when I try to measure the amounts. Even if I start out with what I think is about right, there's always adjustments and I can never get it to taste the same... Maybe someone can help me out on that? Anyways, I've been a vegetarian for about a year, and anything that helps me share that with other people is great. My maternal family is from "up North" and my paternal family is from South of the border, so there's quite a bit of mix-ups on holidays. Traditional Mexican food meets Chicago is interesting to say the least. The first time I cooked a meal completely on my own was the Mother's Day of my ninth year. I made steamed veggies, grilled BBQ chicken, and mashed potatoes. Not the fanciest meal ever, but my mom seemed to appreciate the effort. My first real recipe was a pecan praline that everyone couldn't get enough of and no one could reproduce. I was ecstatic. My first real failure was a tofu smoothie I tried to make. It was.. inedible, at beast.