Holly started cooking in her preteens with family dinners. The meals had themes such as Chinese or French, or they were 5-course feasts (apps, soups, salads, entrees, and desserts). The recipes were straightforward and the flavors simple. When she started cooking as an adult, there was a lot of experimentation, which lead to several inedible meals. Time, patience, and practice gave Holly the ability to blend and create new recipes.

The cookbooks began as scraps of paper, quick notes, and favorite family recipes stuffed into a box. In an effort to organize them, they became documents, and finally cookbooks.