I'm a very eclectic girl, moderately tattooed with a quirky sense of humor. People are always surprised at the fact that I LOVE to cook! My idea of a perfect day is picking fresh veggies out of my garden and spending the day creating masterpieces hanging with my pets and surprising hubby with the dishes I come up with. Give me some fresh veggies and I'm in pure nirvana coming up with new ideas. I love all types of cuisine and especially enjoy fusion cooking - blending Asian w/ Mexican flavors, etc. My new favorite ingredient is TVP since I'm a vegetarian. Being from the South originally, my heart belongs to those Southern basics I grew up with, but making them my own with a vegetarian twist. Less is sometimes more with Southern foods, and I love letting the main ingredients take center stage - things like corn, tomatoes, biscuits and those oh so decadent desserts like my grandmother used to make! I think I've done very well making normally meat based dishes using meat substitutes - specifically my "meat faux-f" as I call it...meatless loaf made with TVP. Even my meat eating hubby loves it! I do tend to over salt - I'll admit it...so my nice, fresh San Marzano red sauce once was so salty you could sail a ship in it! I often forget that other people don't quite love salt the way I do...lol.