Wife for 8 years & counting; mother to 4. I love baking desserts and making up new dinner recipes. However, I rarely write down what I'm doing, so I often can't replicate a dish that my family really enjoys. All of our family gatherings involved food! I learned from my mother and paternal grandmother. My mother is a "must follow the recipe exactly" type and my grandmother is a "throw in this and that" type. I tend to favor my grandmother's style, but I'm glad my mother taught me the basics. One of my greatest recipes is Chocolate Raspberry Angel Food Cake with Fudgey Raspberry Frosting (recipe not posted) which I created as a teenager, which I created on a whim, just hours before guests were due to arrive. Magnificent, although much more decadent than angel cakes usually are! Hmmm...I remember my tragedies b/c that's how I learn best. ;o) No one should be afraid to experiment, regardless if the results are disastrous! The worst that can happen is that we make a mess and start over, now knowing what doesn't work.