I cook to relax and be creative and I love to eat. My greatest influence has to be my mom. She is always so inventive. When I was a kid, she always was trying out new things on us. I think in doing so, she broadened my taste horizons. Thanks, mom! I love to cook new and different things from other cultures. I'm not afraid to try something from the Indian culture or maybe from Turkey (the country, not the bird). I have passport night once a week at my house. That's where I cook something completely different and new from another country. Somtimes it's a hit and sometimes it's a disaster. But I have increased my repitore. My grandpa was a baker. He has passed on, but his cookie recipes live on! Every year at Christmas time, my aunt (grandpa's daughter) and I get together to bake-up his cookies for the celebration. In doing this, it brings the memory of grandpa back and somehow I feel he's sitting there in the kitchen watching us bake his cookies My chicken noodle soup is as good as any Jewish grandma's. I can't get pork chops to come out tender. Also, the broiler is somewhat still of a mystery to me. I realize it has an adjustable shelf, but everything I put in there, ends up Cajun-style.