I am 55 and have been cooking off and on since I was a teenager. I have a wonderful wife of 32 years and we enjoy cooking together when we have time. I have two sons and 3 grandchildren. I love to cook for others and watch their reactions when they really like what I have cooked. I grew up in a small resort town in WNC and I loved the community dinners we had at the local church. There were some great cooks in that little town! My mom and my paternal grandmother were the greatest influences to my cooking style. My grandmother was one of the true old time cooks. I loved to go into her kitchen and see what was on her wood fired Home Comfort cook stove. One day, I saw a huge stock pot on the stove and the lid was just jumping up and down. I went over, removed the lid and looked down into the pot. To my suprise, there was a whole hog's head looking up at me. I asked Mama what she was going to do with it and she said "I'm gonna make Souse"! I like to cook a varity of things. I prefer "Comfort Foods", especially soups, stews, dumplings with chicken or gray squirrel (don't laugh, squirrel has a wonderful delicate flavor) and dutch oven meals like chicken in a pot or pot roast. I enjoy baking but I currently don't have the time to commit to it that I would like . Thankgiving and Christmas dinners! I was 17 or 18 and one day I cooked dinner for my mom and dad. I don't remember the main courses but I made an Apple Strudle from scratch. I got the recipe from a gourmet cookbook that my mom had and she still talks about it today, 39 years later! Too many to list because I experiment a lot but I stirred up a dish one day and I used too much pepper sauce. I hated to throw it away so I gave it to our dog. He took a bite and immediately started howling and running around in circles. He didn't take another bite!