I'm married 14 years with two boys, 11 and 8. I love both cooking and baking and my family is used to trying out new recipes all the time. Fortunately, they're generally not very picky guys! I enjoy hosting and was very happy to learn that The Barefoot Contessa is as anal about party planning as I am. At Christmas, I bake till I drop. I pour over books and magazines for months looking for beautiful, tasty, diverse cookies and bars to make. I send a couple of 8 pound boxes of treats to friends in Toronto, and give many smaller gift containers away as well. Thank goodness. Even if I wasn't gifting, I'd still be baking the same amount, and then I'd have to eat all the bloody stuff! ...are those that take a little time and require my husband to help with the prep while we sip a glass of great wine and listen to some music. Especially if the recipe is a favourite that always turns out great. Homemade pizza is one of these things. I make the crust from scratch and get fresh mozzarella from the deli counter. All the toppings are prepped separately and placed in little bowls so everyone can customize their pizza. I sautee or roast all of the veggies to bring out their best flavour. When we're ready to put the pizzas together, hubby and I are feeling wine-happy and the kids are all excited to make their own, mixing and matching their toppings. We pull out a favourite dvd and hit the family room floor for our pizza picnic. I love baking with my boys. But JEESE, they're messy little bugs! When #1 was little, we made "baker's hats" - cloth napkins with small knots tied in each of the 4 corners. Have you ever seen the Monty Python "brain surgeon" skit? If you have, you know what our baker's hats look like. I even make them for the boys' friends when they make cookies with us. Some great memories and photos happen when you let the kids bake! Gravy making eluded me for years. It was tasteless. Or it was lumpy. Or it was too thin. Or (insert lousy gravy adjective here). It became a big running family joke at Christmas, with my mom-in-law indulgently smiling and shaking her head at my ineptitude. Well, actually, she teased me mercilessly (she was so cool!). The year she passed, I vowed to finally get gravy right. I researched. I tested. I swore. A lot. Finally, on Christmas Eve, I made a kickin' gravy and impressed everyone. Doris would have been proud. As a result, everyone agreed that I would be the one to inherit her lovely silver gravy boat. I display it proudly on my dining room sideboard. I thought that I'd impress my pre-teen friends by making a pot of tea. When making one cup, I'd use 1 tea bag. So...when making a 6-cup pot of tea, it seemed logical to use 6 tea bags. Right? Right??! Not so much. Since that day, I have learned (I hope) a little more about adjusting quantities when making larger batches.