Hey, Can You Cook?! 4

Hi ya'll! My name is Penny Malcolm, and I was born and raised in southwest Georgia. I grew up with two great passions in my life: animals and food, which was a legacy passed down to me by my grandparents. As a kid, the entire family would spend the day picking, shucking, cutting and canning the day's harvest. At the end of the day, we knew we had the freshest food available to get us through the winter. To this day, the smell of freshly plowed soil in the spring gets my fingers itching to plant!

My great grandmother, Alred and my grandmother taught me the art of true southern cooking. My earliest and fondest memories of childhood are of sitting in my grandmother's kitchen peeling peaches for the peach cobbler we would have for dinner. At a very young age, I began collecting and studying French cookbooks and practicing my newly acquired knowledge and skills on my family and friends. Today, I spend much of my time cooking for my family, my community and my church. The rest of the time I enjoy hosting elaborate dinner parties and serving my friends upscale food that they may only find at a five-star restaurant. We have a lot of fun sitting in our blue jeans and eating lobster in puff pastry on the porch!

At 45, I felt I was at a crossroads in my life, wondering which road to take, so I entered "Hey, Can You Cook?! 4" as a personal challenge. Having spent the last 30 years of my life in veterinary medicine and as a wildlife rehabilitator, I wanted to focus my energies on my cooking. It has been a life-altering experience.