Both grandmas’ were exceptional cooks. My paternal grandma was a ranch house cook. I've cooked for siblings since mom went to work after she divorced dad when I was 10 years old. I began with the cheap TV dinners and boxed meals she left for me and it grew from the desire to eat better tasting food. Mom and dad were both good cooks and taught me the power of bay leaf, rosemary, and garlic. My family is mixed culturally I had heavy Italian, Portuguese and Spanish influences all around me. Big family dinners; traditional food like full on turkey dinners or roast beef with all the sauces and sides you'd expect. After 41 years of marriage our anniversary dinner is a chilled bottle of Veuve Clicquot to represent our highs and hot dogs with all the fixins to represent our lows. Feast or famine we stuck it out. Richer or poorer we never quit. Now that we are retired our new mantra is "We've been rich and we've been poor. Rich is more comfortable but poor lasts longer". The poorer you get the more you need to know how to cook well. The 3 years we spent catering for friends weddings and anniversary parties. Worked hard, were never paid, loved every minute of it, grew closer as a couple. It is true for us; cooking together created a bond like no other thing we have ever shared. Trying to manage an unfamiliar borrowed smoker holding 200lbs of tri-tip, pork loins, and split chickens while entertaining visiting relatives and cooking the remaining dishes in the kitchen. Ended up with unidentifiable black chunks of "smoked" meat which I had no choice but to serve to 75 very kind and understanding guests.