I started cooking when I was 18 and I had left home for college. All six foot 120lbs of me went to college and on Christmas break I had lost 5lbs bc all I could cook was campbells soup. The first thing I asked my mama to teach me was cubed steak and gravy. She said "NO, the gravy would be too complicated for you". I watched her make it and 2 weeks later duplicated it without error. It was on the table when she got home from shopping. I realized then, cooking is like chemistry, sometimes it blows up :) Sometimes I get to eat it(then I blow up). Wow my cooking has come along way since then. My fav things to cook are CAJUN and BBQ. My Italian is really good now days as well. Chinese has improved greatly. I think next I'll tackle something more exotic. Favorite things to cook.......anything hot and fiery. I have become quite good at Cajun(specially seafood) and Italian. I like to bake too but I dont do it that often. Backyard BBQs. Even in the winter, its never to cold to grill(in the south). I did it........Beef Wellingtons, homemade pastry and I actually was able to cut out the little decorative leaf from dough and place it on my pastries to bake. Pretty cool. Finally getting my Chinese to taste like it should!!! My biggest goof in the kitchen....Ive screwed up so many recipes its not even funny. Im a mad scientist in the kitchen. Id have to say my biggest goof was trying to impress my at the time girlfried(now my wife) with a fancy lobster dinner. I had no idea the extent to which she was an animal lover. Live lobsters go in the pot. My cookware uses a water seal and the lid bounced around some. You'd have thought she was trying to free willy or something she got so upset and went running to the pot. Then I help her crack it open later at the table and wouldnt you know it, hers had eggs in it. She didnt eat a bite. Turned green though. 2nd biggest tragedy. BBQ'ing for my inlaws. They want to come over and eat BBQ ribs almost every weekend now. Scary but its becoming a family tradition too lol.