I'm a busy professional and a new wife but have found that cooking is my creative outlet and sometimes can't wait to get home and throw on my apron! Since my husband is a full-time student, we can't afford to go out to each much but thanks to all the great recipes I've collected, we hardly miss it. Soups are my most recent passion. I love figuring out how to make things "from scratch" - especially because eating organic and/or natural is important to us. In general, I try to cook just a little stretch outside my range of abilities. I like the challenge and it helps me improve quickly. But I also love the easy stand-bys on a busy night! Definitely making cut-out Christmas cookies... many friends and family have been involved over the years and it's always a big deal. We've gotten pretty creative over the years, everyone trying to out-decorate each other! Making my first batch of homemade tomato sauce with my mom with all natural/organic ingredients from her garden. For some reason I've always been too overwhelmed to try it, but now when I pull a batch out of the freezer, I'm glad I did! Plus, it was fun to spend the day in the kitchen with my mom. I was trying to make a tofu stir-fry but skimped on the oil before frying up the cornstarch-covered chunks of tofu... it ended up as one giant pancake-blob in the wok and my hands were like Mickey Mouse hands from the dipping... I was so frustrated that I turned off the wok and left the room! I have learned some tricks since then, thank goodness.