I'm a 20-something single girl that thought for years that I hated cooking. However, once I moved out on my own and had to cook ... and started cooking things that I liked, I realized that I loved it!! I love to go to the grocery store and pick one random thing that I have either never eaten or never cooked before, take it home, and see what kind of interesting taste treat I can come up with. And I have to say over the last few years I have really impressed myself! I will try my hand at cooking just about anything. If it sounds interesting and yummy I will try it. I also like baking, although I hate making pie crust, lol. My family never really had cooking traditions, other than making the same menu for just about every holiday, which I was never a fan of. lol. The one thing that I always remember being special to me were the "special dishes" each of my grandmother's made. My dad's mom made a sweet potato casserole, complete with marshmallows and brown sugar for almost every holiday; while my mom's mom made (and still continues to make) pizzelle cookies for most holidays. She always sets a special container of them aside for me! ;) I think just realizing that I was a much better cook than I thought was a triumph in itself. Each time I make something that I love, that I get rave reviews from, that some one asks me the recipe for, or that is a new food item ... I consider that a notch in my apron strings! ;) My tragedies are not really cooking so much as things I manage to do in the kitchen while I'm cooking, lol. I have had my fair share of melting and exploding dishes from sitting them on a burner that I mistakenly turned on. And I'm a master at dropping and breaking anything glass ... lets just say I'm a clumsy cook and you might want to make sure you are wearing shoes when walking in my kitchen! LOL