I love to cook for special occasions, planning meals for friends that often lasts several hours. Daily cooking is a chore, because there are too many other things competing for precious time to really enjoy it. Roasted meat, broiled or poached fish, fresh seasonal vegetables, sumptuous desserts. My mother was a fantastic cook. She did it all, and enjoyed every minute. When I was taking care of her estate after she passed away, I came across thousands of recipes, and hundreds of cookbooks. My first meal for company, when I was a senior in high school. Rib-eye, fresh garden peas,new potatoes, and baked Alaska. There was also the special cake that I baked for the Alfa Romeo Society craft competition and holiday dinner, with the A.R. logo. It beat all of the photos and other crafts for "best in show". Will never forget the first cake I baked from scratch, when I was 8 years old. Didn't know the difference between solid shortening and liquid shortening. Then there was the lemon meringue pie that I left on the countertop. Wondered why my black cat had white stuff in his whiskers; he certainly enjoyed the 12-egg meringue!