I recently discovered I enjoy cooking. So far, I've only been following recipes, but some day, I hope to get to a level where I can just start "creating" things on my own. Here is one of my main goals for cooking. I have been trying to cook different kinds of meals for my family throughout the week. I have a 3 year old and a 9 month old. Out of the 5-6 meals I cook a week, my 3 year old will actually try 2-3 of them. So my goal is to find something he will enjoy every night (besides Peanut Butter and Jelly...but can you blame him....mmmm Peanut Butter). I love to Grill and BBQ. I enjoy making my own sauces and rubs (some good and some I swore I'd never talk about again). Lately, I've decided to stay away from recipes and just try to create different kinds of sauces on my own. We really don't have any major family cooking traditions. We enjoy going to my parents on the 4th of July for BBQ and homemade Ice Cream. Also, a tradition my wife and I started is grilling steaks on Christmas. We just feel that sounds a lot better than any other "traditional" Christmas dinner. Smoking my first rack of Ribs. To me, they were the best tasting ribs I have ever had (but seriously, it was probably just because I felt I had accomplished something that made them taste good). All the other ribs/briskets that came before my first successful run at ribs (see My Cooking Triumphs). And until recently Meatloaf. Batman had The Joker, Superman had Lex Luthor, I had meatloaf. It is something so easy to make, but yet, I had failed so many times. But I am glad to say, I never gave up and finally defeated that beast.