[Quiet Man Cometh]

I live on a farm and try to cook. I'm probably not totally awesome at it, but I can do some basic things. My specialty is fried zucchini now, and I can cook a steak. Still working on chicken.

Since my sister whom I live with is not always one to cook, I tend to be the one to make meals, alternating with our housemate who makes massive dinners on occasion.

I learned to cook mostly from my dad talking to me while he was cooking, or him or my mom trying to show me things, and from the cooking channel being on all the time. I picked up more than I realized once I actually started to try cooking. I find the little things are the most useful to know, like knowing how to make a sauce from the crud in the bottom of the pan after cooking meat, what will add sweetness or tartness to something, and getting over being afraid of winging it.

My tiny little pot planter has English mint that I need to regularly hack off since it keeps trying to escape. I pick leaves to steep with my tea sometimes. I also have two ever-bearing strawberry plants that have one or two every once and a while. That's my treat for looking after my plants.

I'm currently attempting to grow roses from clippings. The proper method was to apparently use a potato, but my potato rose from a good clipping with DIY compost and internet tip-things just molded at the stem, while the rose trimming I fished out of the trash and stuffed in a carrot (no potatoes) as a tester was growing quite well.

A friend admired one of my rose plants (I have two, plus carrot-rose) and I'm hoping to grow a clipping for him if I can't just break the plant in half. Some plants will let you do that if the roots will hold up.