Maria Collins is a food photographer, avid home cook/baker, and experienced pastry chef from Austin, Texas. She didn't consider herself to be much of a cook until her mid-20s, when she taught herself by watching "a ton of PBS cooking shows" and used cooking magazines and websites to research the fundamentals of food science.  As she came to understand how and why cooking works, she also developed a love for the bright flavors of the Latin market in her neighborhood. Now in New England, Maria cooks and bakes with whole grains and unrefined foods as much as possible, makes lots of tacos [always on corn tortillas], and documents her kitchen adventures on her blog, Whole-Grain Texan in Yankee Land.