My husband and I have been together over 10 years and the thing we enjoy doing most often together is cooking and trying new recipes. We are definately people who enjoy trying a new dish every week and quickly grow tired of the same-old-same-old. We've gotten so reliant on our fun cooking times together, that now our nine year old son, will do just about anything - including cleaning his room, just to be able to cook with us. So it has quickly grown into a family affair. I love cooking and coming up with my own recipes... Like my thyme-infused cornish hens. Plus while growing up with my dad (who is an avid hunter) I learned to cook wonderful dishes made with rabbit, pheasant, quail, deer and more. I love hearty dishes with loads of deep flavors, but I can also appreciate a simply grilled piece of salmon. And my most favorite dishes to make include all types of seafood, and I've even been known to wrap my own sushi rolls at home. At a young age I helped my own mother with cooking. She is who I had learned most of my Spanish recipes from. My favorites growing up have always been Lentejas (lentil soup), Paella (Seafood Rice) and Puchero (Chickpea and chicken noodle soup) - and of course I just love to eat crunchy hearty breads and loads of tapas with a good beer! My husband and my father (raised in Iowa) have also taught me a few dishes as well. A wonderful philly cheesteak, an amazing roast beef and an easy beef stroganoff, not to forget swiss steak to die for! Mixing some spanish cooking methods with those of german and norweigen decent have allowed me to experiment in my own cooking style.. and allowed me to create tasty easy dishes in my own kitchen. Right before christmas break during my sophmore year in college, I created the "thyme-infused cornish hens"... They were amazing - I made two for me and my room mate and we both polished off an entire bird each. Needless to say I served the birds along with stove top stuffing (a college student staple) and homemade mash potatoes. It was then I found my true love for cooking, and the feeling you get when people enjoy your food, and the natural stress release you can get from the act of cooking and putting love into your food. There has been many of these... cooking tragedies... there still are to this day, but I always say if something doesn't go wrong - you won't learn anything from it. Recipes always evolve and get better with each time you make it. Something I'll never forget -- my mom and I making lentil soup in a pressure cooker, we were too hungry to wait for the slow cooked version... and somehow we forgot to make sure the lid was on tight... or else the lid failed.. we are not sure which... but we were in another room after the whistle of the steam starts.. we hear a huge bang, go runnning to towards the kitchen and see BEANS everywhere! The lid popped off spewing beans all over the kitchen, the ceiling, the floor... everywhere. Now I make doubly sure to replace my seal on my pressure cooker every year, and make my husband double check that I got it sealed and closed properly. :)