Planning a meal is half the fun for me. I love to make a recipe that's new or a little bit involved. Ultimately, I seem to have the most success with pastas, homemade pizza and salad. I want to get better with healthy foods that don't sacrifice flavor. Every year or two my mother would bring the family to visit her home in Germany. We'd spend a month or so with my grandmother, who was a fantastic cook and home-maker. I have strong memories of feeling nurtured by her hot cocoa in the mornings and schnitzel and dumplings with gravy, delicious tomato salad or cucumber salad, cherries she had canned from the back yard or a delicious cake with homemade whipped cream for dessert. I've started to try to learn to cook in the last few years, mostly because I just love to eat. I hope if I ever have a family of my own I will be as good as she was at creating rituals around home and mealtime.