IT professional and geek... I love computers, video games, reading, and doing other geeky things. I also love to cook and do crafty-type things, which is not something a lot of my geeky friends like to do, especially since most of them are male. I'm married to my junior-high school sweetheart and we live in Denver, CO. He also is an IT professional and loves video games, but he can't cook. However, he loves eating what I cook him! I just like to try new things because it feels like such an accomplishment to conquer a new recipe or cooking technique. I love making things from scratch that I used to buy pre-made... seasoning packets, salad dressings, stuffing, soup, ice cream. If it's not too complicated or expensive to make it from scratch, I will try it. I especially like making soups because when I was younger, I didn't like soup much. It seemed there was always something in soup I wouldn't like. Also, my first couple of attempts at soup were disastrous, so once I finally figured it out, making soups I like is very fun. Not something we do anymore - but my dad's side of the family normally would go to Midnight Mass for Christmas, and then afterwards my grandfather (who can barely cook) would make us all breakfast. That 2am breakfast with my extended family was always fun. Now, I normally spend Christmas Eve with my in-laws. My mother-in-law makes a different soup every year for dinner for about 15 people. Some years I make the soup, so this is a tradition I will love to keep going. Chicken Cordon Bleu II, soup (in general), bread, BAKED boneless buffalo wings that taste as good as fried, sweet/spicy BBQ sauce for twist on the boneless chicken wings When I was about 18, my first few attempts at Baked Potato Soup were awful. I was following my mother-in-law's recipe exactly as written and I would still not get the same results. I made the recipe with her in her kitchen to see where I went wrong. I finally realized the recipe just said "milk" and while the milk they bought for their household was whole, I always bought skim.