I'm a novice cook who is getting married in March 2010 to the pickiest man on Earth. He is a meat and potatoes man who hates all veggies, fish and anything with celery. He refuses to try amything new and is constantly inspecting anything I make for him to see what I've "snuck in there". I don't think he'll ever forgive me for the time I tried to make him "healthy" chicken parm and used crushed pinenuts instead of breadcrumbs! He's lucky I still love him... I love to cook sauces, soups and stews, anything that will simmer all day on the stove and make the house smell wonderful. I've just begun to like baking. I was never a baker, but I think that's because I've always hated measuring. Once I made a conscious effort to slow down and really pay attention to my recipes, my food started turning out a lot better! I love holiday cooking. I've come a long way from from Thanksgiving when all I could do was just open the cranberry sauce and plop it on the plate, or Easter when I made the Bunny cake from the box! Anything that elicits rave reviews from my family and my fiance. My chicken parm and Bakerella's cupcake pops. Most of my greatest tragedies include fire. I was attempting to make Stuffed porkchops grilled on a maple plank from this site (fabulous by the way), and thought I had soaked my plank long enough, but next thing I knew, my parents grill was completly engulfed in flames - Thank goodness we were able to salvage the porkchops! I also somehow managed to drop the drawn butter I had just made for my birthday lobsters onto my parents gas stove and set that ablaze too. I'll be sticking to my electric stove for a while...