I have to admit, until I met my husband I didn't even know how to cook eggs. Moms kitchen was off limits when I was growing up and while she is an amazing cook I felt very intimidated by the whole process and figured it was better left to those who knew what they were doing. Then something changed. I went from a single mom of 1 to a stay at home with 3 in the past 5 years. It's only in the last year or two that I have taken a liking to cooking. And in large part because of this website. It's so much fun to have an instant cookbook at your fingertips and to see what other people think of a recipe or add my own 2 cents. I also have a home business. I found out how to turn my love of books into profit by buying and reselling them. Now if only I could find the time to read myself- maybe when the kids go to college! Right now my kids are still young, which means they tend to be picky so stick with the easy kid friendly food. Cookies, bars and cakes are always a big hit. I recently found a good chicken nugget recipe I modified based on one I found here (and should submit) and mac and cheese (martha stewarts version), chicken pot pie, chili's and soups are a main staple. We try to to eat healthy so I'm always looking for ways to sneak in the vegetables too! The few traditions we have naturally centered around food. My mom would do gingerbread men and women that we would decorate at christmas. Another favorite is her portuguese sweet bread, which can be any season. Thanksgiving is a full blown affair which I still leave to my mom, since I still feel somewhat incapable of duplicating her efforts! When people ask me for a recipe, or the kids say "This is great mom" I feel really good about my ability to cook. I now have a great sense of how to plan meals, how to alter something to our tastes and am a lot more adventurous with trying recipes I once thought too advanced for me. Many years back when I first invited my parents over to my new place to cook them dinner I confused a tablespoon measurement with what should have been teaspoon and seriously over spiced the curry! My mom was complimentary of course and probably didn't want to hurt my fledgling attempts to cook, my dad on the other hand who by the way hates spicy food, drank a lot of water!