As a cook and someone who shares this abundant planet of ours, I am working on revising myself and my habits to be more sustainable and eco-friendly. This has affected my cooking in that I pay attention to WHAT my food is, WHERE it comes from and how it was grown and/or raised. This has prompted me to start religiously attending local farmer's markets and BUYING LOCAL. Not only do I personally get to know the people that grow the food my family eats but it didn't travel from Mexico or some other far-off place and consume a lot of gas/energy to reach my plate. I also buy organic whenever possible as organics are closer to what nature intended. I really like cooking breakfast! I have a fantasy of having/owning a breakfast restaurant someday which will most likely not happen, but it is fun to fantasize. I have made it my mission to find a perfect pancake and waffle recipe among others and I found them on this site! The only food tradition that my family enjoys is that on your birthday, you get to have whatever you want for your dinner meal. Since I am the cook, this usually means that I usually go out to eat on my birthday, but it warms my heart that my husband and son prefer that I cook their meal as their favorite foods aren't prepared to their liking in a restaurant : ) For the longest time I had a hard time getting yeast breads/rolls to rise properly. This still isn't my strongest suit, but I have a dear neighbor that has provided instruction which has helped produce better baked goods! One of the WORST kitchen messes I created once was making homemade pizza. The bottom of the crust wasn't crisping up to my liking so I slid it off of the pan to sit directly on the wire racks in the oven. Well,....the pizza was so soft and heavy that it slid in between the wires and made a huge burning pile of goo in the oven. If this wasn't bad enough, I was pouring a glass of wine at the time and it slipped out of my hands and broke splattering red wine all over my white kitchen. It was toxic! We had a nice mexican dinner at a local restaurant that evening instead!