I'm 24 years old, happily married to my wonderful American husband, and we have a beautiful baby girl who arrived on December 2006... I've been in the US for 3 years, and now we live somewhere at the foot of the Rocky Mountains... And, of course, I love cooking! ... probably desserts. I love making all kinds of pastries, breads, cakes and cookies, etc. But although I have a sweet tooth, I also really like making more substantial things and experimenting with new ingredients. I've used my mom's recipes as a basis for my own cooking, but then I have adapted many of them and explored other avenues. Comfort foods like casseroles are some of my specialties, probably because they are so fun to make! I love cooking with vegetables. My grandmother is a great cook, my mom taught my sisters and I all that she knows about cooking since we were very young... I baked my first apple tart when I was 7. Tarts of all kinds can be considered one of our family traditions: we were 3 sisters and each of us "specialized" in one ingredient: apple, apricot, and pineapple tarts -we used to make them when we were bored -and they didn't always taste great :) I also have good memories spending time in the kitchen with my entire family, in a team effort to make home-made French fries or crepes (the ultimate Sunday evening comfort food at home :). My mom makes the best cream puffs I've ever tasted, I used to always request them for my birthday when I lived in France. Nothing too fancy yet. Mostly, I love it when I prepare a dinner that makes the people in my life happy! I love spending time in my little kitchen, mixing and experimenting with my favorite ingredients. Next to that come a few little rewards every now and then -like when my husband's best friend said that I have spoiled his dinners at his favorite Italian restaurant forever, because my lasagna was the best thing he'd ever had (his comment still makes me proud to this day!)... My pear and almonds tart that gained my mother-in-law's respect! ... Having my Dad eat seconds of my rhubarb compote (he usually says he hates rhubarb!). And more recently, I made about 130 shortbread cookies (sables) for a party of 30 people I hosted; it was a success! I know it's not that much but it was my first time doing this, and what made me especially pleased was that the recipe and the different flavors of icing were of my creations. Before I lived in the U.S I had the hardest time figuring out how to make the American-type chocolate chip cookies!! I think it's because I was too stubborn to follow the recipes exactly (my only defense is that I was always horrified at the amount of sugar and butter they involve). Also, I had no clue what kind of ingredients "shortening" or "cream of tartar" were supposed to be anyway (I could never find them in regular French grocery stores). And I could not understand how any decent cookie could take only 8 minutes to bake, so mine always turned out to be either burnt, or too flat, or cakey like muffins, or too hard... :) Well, now that I finally mastered the choc. chip cookie, I would say souffles in general; my few attempts at souffles have produced something that looks pretty good when it's in the oven but deflates immediately when removed from a source of heat :(