I have entirely taught myself everything I know and will know about cooking. The most I learned for my parents was how to make stuff from a box! I LOVE musicals, music itself, theater istelf, cooking, reading, and writing. Over the last year, through learning how to cook at home, I have managed to lose 50 pounds and keep going! Things that I will either have no guilt (health-wise) eating or have nothing but guilt eating! (IE: baked goods) My mother did teach me how to make delicious fudge and cookies. ;-) My favorite tradition is every Christmas my mother makes these minty wreath sugar cookies. I look forward to it every year and she promises to share the recipe when I have children of my own to pass it on to. Just learning how to cook in general! When the most you knew was how to make Mac n' Cheese from a box, and now can satée with the rest of them and can make a meal from scratch at a moments notice... That's a triumph in my book. I was making a pecan pie from scratch (no pre-made pie shells here! ;-D), and I added too much of something to the filling. Not sure what it was yet (have an idea, but still not positive), but it WOULD NOT bake. By the time I finally gave up on it, it had been baking for more than an hour and a half, the top was just sticky ash and the inside was runny goo. But luckily I bought enough ingredients just in case something like that would happen and made a picture perfect pecan pie (try saying that 5 times fast!) the second time around.