I craft. I laugh. I drink out of carafes. I'm big on eating local food..not necessarily going out to eat, but more so food harvested in or near my city. Helps lessen me carbon footprint. So, what better way than to grow your own veggies. Finally decided to give the vegetable growin' a go. I'm also about to acquire a few chickens. You'll find me steering clear from the aisles in the grocery store & sticking mostly to the produce section. Love, love, love to listen to good tunes while cookin', these days you'll find the record player a'spinnin' or Kate Nash/Postal Service/Regina Spektor/Okkervil River blaring. I also thrift like crazy. I dare say I do loves me some antiquey stores, but my love for thriftin' shall never be swayed. Mixin' in vintage Pyrex bowls is an absolute must in me home. One day I shall master that kitschy car engine cooking :) These days it's veggies all around. I used to really dig cooking salmon & chicken but I've been eating less meat these days. I've also picked up the slack where tofu's concerned. I prepare a dish w/tofu at least once a week. I'm learning, slowly, but it's happening. I'm not big on measuring out when cooking--I find it slows the cooking process. I'm also not big on having a long complicated list of ingredients. I'm big on simple dishes but will every once in a while will try out those long recipes. I wouldn't say this is cooking..but my mornings now consist of tofu smoothies. I know, sounds gross, but a month ago I tried it for the first time. Can't taste the tofu with all of the other goodies(fruit, yogurt, protein powder, etc). In the afternoon I'll have a bowl of veggie or fruit soup. Mexican food's a biggie. Tamales, enchiladas, posole, menudo, capirotada..you name it. We also make mole from scratch--talk about a time-consuming dish, but it's worth it. I've learned it's not the complicated recipes that make you a "good cook" but having a few really good recipes tucked away in that noggin' of yours that people love right off the bat. It's best to know how to make these great dishes by heart as opposed to knowing many somewhat good-ish ones. Hope I'm makin' sense. Anywho, soup is something I've been working on for over a year now. Cream of celery, broccoli, Butternut squash bisque, and the list continues. It helps that I've learned how to make my own chicken/vegetable broth. I've found a "basic" formula for making these pureed soups & it's cool that I can use pretty much any type of veggie(parsnips are next on the list). ... I remember back in high school when I first attempted cooking: "One day moist" oatmeal cookies(they dried out the next day), over-buttered thyme zucchini and deep-fried battered mushrooms. Those were the only things I knew how to make then & I can now safely say I've learned QUITE a bit since ;) Talk about disaster..now I've made chocolate chip cookies before, but this time..oy vey. So I sifted my dry ingredients and mixed the wet ingredients. I then added the chocolate chips and dropped the cookies onto the baking sheet. Placed the baking sheet in the oven and 10 minutes later..the cookies were spreading out far more than they usually do with a mound of nothing but chocolate chips in the middle. I didn't add the dry ingredients!