I work in the political field after 25 years as a print journalist. I am a staunch Democrat and Buddhist! AND I have a school teacher daughter who has 3 beautiful and brilliant daughters (one died a few years ago at the age of 5 from leukemia, but she is still part of the family), one 18 year old foster daughter and (we're hoping) one 3 year old foster daughter on the way. I also have a son who has a band and one cool grandson. Grandkids rock. Better than kids! And I love to meet all kinds of people. I love to converse and learn about people. Yummy, healthy and easy dishes. Lots of veggies. My favorite cookbooks are a 4 ingredient recipe book and Zonya Foco's "Lickety Split Meals." Vegetarian tamales at Winter Solstice. My daughter makes the BEST Green (Chile) Cheese Tamales. It isn't a Cooking tradition as much as an eating tradition, but when we go visit my granddaughter at the cemetery, we first make a trek to the nearby Buddhist temple for service, then eat lunch in the cafeteria -- strictly vegetarian, and is authentic Chinese food and lots of fresh vegetables and fruits (You will never see a "spring roll" or greasy fried food there). Then we go buy Brookie a balloon and flowers and spend time with her at Queen of Angels cemetery. Bittersweet but still nice. Not cooking like my mom! She was a working woman who kinda sorta didn't really belong in the kitchen. Although she did make a wonderful Swiss steak! The time when I was 22 and I made a pizza totally from scratch with real Italian ingredients, and when I went to take it upstairs to my boyfriends apartment, I tripped on his doormat and it splattered all over the floor and wall. I cried!