I'm lucky that I grew up with a family of good cooks. My mom is an excellent baker. People always rave about her baked goods. I usually don't like anything from bakeries because they're just not as good. I would say watching Food Network has definitely honed my own culinary skills. I love to cook and comes out in my own writing as well.
I'll have to check out Mal and Daniella's story. I'm sure I'm not the only one here who would be interested in checking out a badass sapphic romance, so I hope you post that story here, too.
Great advice about writing fantasy! Anyone thinking of giving it a try should read this story, since it seamlessly weaves the human realm with the Faery realm.