Well, I'm from all around! My father was in the military so I grew up moving around every three years. I think this is what makes me so open to try new things--which is what I do with my cooking all the time! I love trying new restaurants, whether it's a chain or something exotic like Ethiopian, and then coming home and trying to make the things I love. Also, my mother is from the country of Panama and I enjoy making the foods from there: carimanolas, tamales, arroz con guandu! I've never been to Panama but grew up with my mother's yummy cooking. One day...one day... I'm on a southern kick right now. I'm still trying to perfect my etoufee! I love cooking Asian and Spanish recipes as well. My boyfriend loves Italian so I try and make a bit of that every now and then. I'm trying to get him into new foods and flavors! The biggest triumph so far is when I cooked for my parents for the first time. My dad had bought some scallops, crab meat, and lobster meat for me to "experiment" with (trusting of him, no? haha) and I jumped right in. I made some bourbon bacon wrapped scallops, crab cakes with remoulade sauce, and lobster rolls---all of which was gobbled right up! I realized that cooking really wasn't so hard and that people would actually like what I made! I was making crawfish pistolettes once and without thinking cut the holes into the bread before frying them. The oil soaked into the inside of the bread. Even after stuffing them with the yummy stuffing, the amount of oil in the bread was still too much to take! Oops! :D