Sometimes I like to just make a one-skillet meal (preferably out of a box or freezer bag). But other times it's so nice to have every burner going, the oven on, and rushing around making sure everything gets done at the same time. I love trying new recipes. I really don't like the precision involved in baking, though. I love making pernil for the holidays (a Puerto Rican Pork Shoulder that goes in the oven for hours upon hours and just falls off the bone when it's done). When I try out new dishes my husband (aka my guinea pig) gives me the thumbs up or down and over the past 2.5 yrs of our marriage, we've been slowly creating our own family cooking traditions. It's lots of fun! I once made a 3 course meal. If anything, I usually manage 2 courses (entree and dessert- with the dessert usually being something packaged). But it was a special occasion and we were moving and needed to get rid of our food anyway so I ended up making spicy shrimp cups as an appetizer, ginger glazed chicken over teriyaki rice, and sugared won ton wrappers with berries and a whipped cream topping. Thanksgiving dinners (with turkey, gravy, mashed potatoes and/or sweet potato casserole, green bean casserole, corn, and stuffing) is always a feat too. A recent surf and turf meal that my husband and I made together as a date was incredibly delicious and one of my favorite memories of cooking. Being a newlywed I wanted to make something extra special for my husband in the kitchen of our new apartment. I'm not really a baker so I thought I'd try a dessert that didn't involve baking. My dish of choice ended up being an eclair dessert in a baking dish. I had the creme done to perfection and the graham crackers all laid out and then went to work with the chocolate glaze on top. I guess I wasn't stirring as fast as I needed to because somehow I burnt the chocolate glaze. I thought it might taste better if I just chilled it per directions but it still tasted burnt and gross. My loving husband kept raving about how good it was for weeks after but I think he was just being nice to his new, inexperience bride. Another baking tragedy is when I recorded the amount of flour needed for chocolate chip cookies wrong and put in a cup more flour than needed... Yeah, I'm sure you know how that turned out...