@Camikitty
I am a newbee to recipezaar & am just taking in all the fantastic recipes everyone has and am really impressed with some of the recipe photos you all post! I love to cook, especially since I love to eat wonderful food and to be able to make it myself is very empowering, not to mention less expensive! Cooking is also very relaxing to me and to smell wonderful food cooking in your own home, like baked goods, well, it's like a Shangri-La....can I get an Amen?!!! I humbly accept the role of student here and in general of cooking, as most of my recipes were given/taught to me by friends and family, so I will most likely be mainly giving my opinions of recipes that I can't resist trying. The only recipe I can think of to list that might be an original is actually one my mother taught me for chile(salsa) and maybe for refried beans (frijoles). I practice what I cook until it gets raves from others and myself, which usually occur simultaneously, but I don't feel like I am a naturally good cook. I have to really try, as I can lack the patience this special hobby requires. But I persevere with help from my kitties, who keep me peaceful when life gets crazy. Thank God for the animals! Being a California girl, I guess it also helps to have only mild weather and shakey ground to deal with! Expensive as it is, I couldn't see living anywhere else, especially when you have magical cyber places like recipezaar to take you through food all over the world!!!