I started getting serious about cooking right after I got married in 1998. I immediately bought The Joy of Cooking and it taught me what good food is all about. My favorite cuisine is Thai and Vietnamese, but Japanese is a close second. I try to limit my carbohydrate intake for weight control and health issues. I love to try new recipes! I love to make soups, especially clear broth soups, Manhattan clam chowder, Thai hot and sour, Mexican lime and avocado, and chilaquiles. I also love making pad Thai, but it's pretty time-consuming so I don't do it often. I've branched into making meals with minimal cooking during the warmer months when it's easy to get fresh, local ingredients. I just love fresh veggies! My family still prefers to make meals from processed and packaged ingredients -- Velveeta, processed mixes, white bread and noodles, and processed gravy mixes. I never enjoyed food until I moved to California and learned how wonderful fresh ingredients are! Not many people in my family are very good at cooking, so I'm pretty proud of the fact that I can make complex dishes and have them turn out well! Anytime I visit my mother in the Midwest, I love to make elaborate meals for her because she's amazed by them. Many years ago, I tried making French onion soup for my high school French class. What a disaster! I meant to half the recipe, but partway through making the soup I forgot to half the ingredients. So there was WAY too much butter, WAY too many onions, and not much else. YUCK!