I am graduating from San Jose State in the fall and am a proud auntie. My mom and I are best friends and enjoy cooking, seeing movies, talking, and traveling together. My favorite thing to make are cookies, of which my nephew, John, and niece, McKenna, are my official tasters. I became a vegetarian a few months ago and am currently experimenting with a lot of new recipes. For dinner on weekdays, I typically make a lot of stir-fries (with legumes, seitan, Quorn chicken, or tofu) and soups (I like the Tortilla Soup and Beaker's vegetable soup from this site). I am stil making chicken once in a great while, but then only using organic, free-range chicken. Usually if company is coming over, I like to make spaghetti (with a tomato sauce), lasagne (with spinach or vegetable crumbles), or enchiladas (with cheese, black beans). As my family is Swedish, my mom and grandmother have made swedish meatballs, potato sausage, and rice pudding every Christmas Eve. In addition, every New Years Eve since I can remember, my mom has made won tons (fried pork dumplings) with sweet and sour sauce. I make excellent cookies--thanks to my mom and grandmother who are both well known for their baking talents and passed down their secrets to me. Also I am good at making spaghetti and lasagne, as well as enchiladas (which was the very first thing I ever made in the kitchen when I was just nine years old!) Past triumphs in my cooking experience include a prime rib and a cedar plank salmon (made for my meat loving friends). My last recipe I made that turned out really well was soft black bean tacos. There have been many along the way, especially when I was first learning to cook. A lot of cookies went straight from the baking pan into the garbage disposal. However, one memorable incident comes to mind regarding an eggnog cheese cake. I didn't cook it long enough and then I took it out of the pan too soon and suddenly I went from having a cake to having a puddle of cream cheese on my kitchen counter. I had guests coming in a couple hours, so I skipped making something else for dessert and went straight to the store to buy a cake! Just when I thought I was reaching an intermediate/expert cooking level, my cake turned into a puddle!