I'm a gal who loves to cook! I've recently returned home to Plano, Texas by way of Cleveland, OH, Miami Beach, FL and San Rafael, CA, and have brought a little bit of all those regions with me in my cooking style. Well, everything, really! I'm definitely a fan of "eclectic" cooking. Right now I'm really into soups and stews; there's so much room for creativity (and error!), and I love them as cozy and heartwarming healthy comfort foods. I also like to spend time honing my Mexican food skills whenever I can. I love cooking casserole dishes of every kind, and I'm a mean baker as well. However, I'm open to trying anything once, and I love searching the allrecipes site for interesting new recipes. Aside from the traditional Thanksgiving and Christmas dinners with all the fixin's, I'd have to say chili, jalapenos, and Tabasco sauce are our family traditions. My sister is the true cooking star of the family, but I do try to learn from her, and every once in a while, I've been able to sneak out a copy of one of her recipes. A real feat, as she guards them very closely. I'm still in the process of making some of my own cooking traditions, however. One of my yearly traditions is to give out bags of freshly baked from scratch cookies for Christmas to some of my friends and colleagues. Many of the recipes I got on this website! I tried it a few years ago for the first time, and now, whever I bring out cookies I've baked to share, no one ever turns them down! I would say it's a new tradition that will hopefully continue to be successful in the future. :) Too many to count! Disasterous mismeasurements, grabbing dried mustard instead of dried ginger, and other ingredient mishaps. It happens. I usually berate myself initially, then shrug my shoulders and go out for dinner! It's all part of the learning process....