My mom is a great cook, but I actually picked up my skills on my own. I experiment with almost every recipe I make. I use the time I spend on other creative pursuits--cooking, knitting, dancing--as time for my subconscious to work out problems in my fiction. Vegetable soups, vegetable-based recipes made on the stove, curry, bread, certain cookies (cookies for parties), fancy desserts, recipes that use seasonal vegetables like sweet potato soup, asparagus risotto, and salad! My family grew up on hearty meals that I can't really enjoy anymore because I became very health-conscious after college--your basic American homemade meal (mashed potatoes and gravy, meatballs, macaroni and cheese, hotdish, spaghetti, pizza) and some more traditional Mennonite favorites, like veranika, New Year Cookies, and cherry mous. I don't try to force them to eat like me anymore. Our biggest tradition is making pizza on a Saturday night. Others are the Mennonite favorites at Christmastime, plus a bean soup with ham. Highlights are when my alterations to recipes OR recipes I make up as I go produce amazing results: koala cookies, pasta primavera, a vegetable enchilada bake, a cold salad of wild rice, soybeans, tomatoes, chickpeas, and tofu, and a very simple recipe that involves simmering garlic, basil, a little oil, tofu, and broccoli. When I made croissants for the first time, that was a delight. Also, once I made an entire Moroccan meal--fascinating! I don't usually have tragedies, but I get disappointed when I try and try and can't create a certain result, such as scones that taste like what you get at coffee shops (I think this is because I refuse to use a ton of cream) and a replication of a bakery bread that uses several kinds of flour plus various seeds.