Cooking relaxes me. I enjoy cooking for others. I spend probably 2-3 hours every weekend planning the meals for the next week. I love everything about cooking...the research, the shopping, the chopping/cooking and the serving! Anything! I love to experiment and I love to make other's creations. I am slowly beginning to make my own creations, which I hope to share with others someday. My absolute favorite foods to cook are Mexican food and soups, but I love expanding my horizons in the kitchen. My mom used to make homemade noodles, pecan sticky buns, hot bread...old fashioned stuff. My mother taught me how to make the BEST fried chicken and honest to goodness silky fried chicken gravy to go on top of the smoothest mashed potatoes! I learned at a very young age how to cut a whole chicken into the "proper" parts. I had wonderful examples of great cooks in my family! I once catered a Holiday dinner party at a private home and successfully served my first prime rib! About a year ago I made it my mission to cook at least one "new thing" every week. Since then, I don't think I've cooked the same dish more than twice...and those are our absolute FAVORITES! We love the Pasta with Salsa Cruda from this site as well as the Authentic Enchiladas Verdes! This site has given me GREAT success in the kitchen! I am known as Chef Chelle around the house! I cannot make grilled cheese to SAVE MY LIFE! I burn it EVERY TIME! I also struggle with pork chops, mostly because I just personally am not a fan. If you ask my family about any failures, they will immediately declare GAZPACHO! I don't know what I did wrong, but it was HORRIBLE! Other than that, I have a great time in the kitchen.