Hi! I'm a NW girl, married to a Southern boy, with a midwest child. LOL! We are military and move around quite a bit. Through our adventures, though, we have been able to learn many different styles of cooking. It has been fun to learn lots of new things. I have come to appreciate cooking and trying new things. My dad was a chef, but I didn't take an interest as a child and wish now that I had learned more while he was alive. I enjoy cooking for a larger group. There is just the three of us and sometimes it's easier to cook for more people. I enjoy cooking italian, one pot meals, BBQ and making things from scratch (i.e., homemade tomato sauce, BBQ sauce, etc). I don't enjoy cooking breakfast. I enjoy trying new recipes at potlucks; or recipes that I wouldn't normally make for my family. I'm not sure if we have many traditions, but on my mom's side, we make Christmas Stollen and various other christmas candies (i.e, choc. covered pretzels, etc.) I have finally been able to master a simple alfredo sauce. My son adores fettucine alfredo and we've been able to have it at home and it has been fantastic. Also the lasagna recipe on here has been a stable for me. I use it for tomato sauce too. Definitely cooking with fresh herbs and homemade sauces is a triumph. I have burned many things along the way, but have also learned from my mistakes. I made manacotti w/chick peas once that was horrible! We took one bite and threw it out! One Christmas I made a turkey that was raw. We had tried a new technique of cooking the turkey at a higher temp in the oven and it just didn't work out.