I am fearless about cooking; I will try anything once just to say I've done it. Haven't killed anyone with my cooking... yet. I love to cook for other people, and I love a good challenge. I will often make the same thing twice, but using different recipes, just for comparison sake. We make tamales every year at Christmas. It's a lot of work! But also lots of fun. I used to work with a guy who is a phenomenal cook! But he was always jealous of my foccacia... as it turns out, breads were *not* his specialty! People tend to be impressed by my catering skills, too. The first time I *ever* made sugar cookies was a disaster. Granted, I was only 10 or so... but I didn't understand the big "2" next to the little "1/4" measurement for cups of flour. So... I used TWO ONE-QUARTER cups of flour (= 1/2 a cup!). It was a liquid mess. My mother was really good about letting me learn things on my own, and was equally good about helping me figure out what I had done wrong.