I can't remember a family function that didn't serve food. That's because many of my family members are gourmet cooks and they love to cook. They cook many traditional dishes that you won't be able to taste anywhere else. There is no written recipe for their dishes because it's always a dash of this, a pinch of that, and my favorite - I'll add this for today. Unfortunately, this gene didn't show itself in me until recently (I was too distracted by the food to learn how to cook it). I was able to shock them with several new recipes I picked up from this site and my family loved it. Now, I love to cook and I love to learn new dishes. It's wonderful to have this cooking community to share my love of cooking with. I discovered I am quite adventurous when it comes to cooking. I cook for my family because when they enjoy themselves it makes me happy. The dishes I've been experimenting with are the desserts, seafoods, and pastas. You haven't tasted traditional Asian food until you've tasted my grandfather's cooking, unfortunately, there is no written recipe. It's a dash of this and a pinch of that and a lot of tasting. He cooks up the best beef stew, noodles with soup, he makes his own bacon with sugar cane, and so many more heavenly dishes. My first claim to fame with my family was a lasgna recipe that I have since lost and can not recreate (I'm still kicking myself for this) and my second claim to fame is a flan recipe that I modified from this site. Since joining this site, I've earned many more compliments for my cooking - cioppino, cookies, and appetizers. This is especially difficult since many members of family are very discerning. Good cooks only want to eat good food I guess! Cooking is truly a labor of love. I volunteered to cook for my father's 61st birthday (61 is a milestone for my culture) last month. There were about 90 guests and I served them 24 different items. I had bags under my eyes by the time I was done hosting the event. It was well worth it. I learned to plan ahead, make a list, prep the mincing and chopping first, and make the sauces in advance. This made my life a lot easier.