I enjoy many different types of cooking. In the summer, I really like to barbecue when I get the chance. (That's the northern style of high temperatures for relatively short times; not southern slow barbecue. I don't have the time or equipment for southern barbecue, though I like to eat it when I get the chance.)
I'm fond of baking, both bread and cookies, when the weather is cool enough. I like a variety of breads, but I'm especially interested in experimenting with high-protein breads, for a more complete meal. When baking cookies, I abandon any semblance of healthy intentions and go for the high-butter cookies, like oatmeal chocolate-chip, or snicker doodles.
I'm not much of a pasta cook, though I like playing around with different milk/cheese sauces. Some day I mean to try making fresh pasta.
I'm also quite fond of experimenting with gourmet hamburgers. It's time consuming, but ground sirloin topped with several cheeses, caramelized vidalia onions, and portobello mushrooms sauteed in wine are delicious.
My most recent cooking hobby is home-made ice cream. Beth got me the ice cream making attachment to our Kitchen Aid mixer for my birthday, and I've made batches for any special occasion I could use as an excuse since. I've been working on refining my recipe for french vanilla so far; once I'm satisfied with that, I'll move on to developing a chocolate flavor. Home-made ice cream is unfortunately fairly expensive (due in no small part to the cost of vanilla beans), but it is extraordinarily delicious. And making home-made ice cream isn't as fattening as it sounds, because it's always easy to find help finishing a batch off. :)
