I read a cookbook like most people read novels. I like trying to guess where people come from by the dishes they prepare. If you like "slick" dumplings ... then you're from the South! Baking ... pies, cookies, rolls, bread. Also, beef stews, chicken soup, red beans and rice ... dinners that simmer on the stove while you add ingredients throughout the day. The birthday pies for my son who doesn't like cake. The "make-up" bacon I make for my husband when I'm tired of being mad at him. The chicken soup that gets made whenever someone in the family has a cold. Dinner for my daughter's in-laws. I tried to make everything simple, but taste great, and they asked me if we ate like that every night because the food tasted wonderful! That would have to be the time I cooked a HUGE pot of Shrimp Gumbo, and dropped it on the floor taking it from the stove to the counter. I mean it was a HUGE pot of Gumbo! The kids still talk about that ... and it was 15 years ago. Then there was the time I hit the "clean" button on the stove and locked my chicken breasts in the oven when I had very special friends over for dinner. You can't imagine burnt chicken after it's been "cleaned" by my stove.