I started cooking trying to re-create the things that my mother and my aunt (two great Southern cooks) made when I was growing up. I keep branching out to try other cuisines, Mexican and Italian, that I have learned to love as an adult. It makes me mad to buy pre-made, manufactured foods that I know I can make better tasting and cheaper! Comfort foods - hearty soups, round steak with gravy, roast chicken, grilled steaks, pasta dishes, caseroles. The Holidays (Thanksgiving, Christmas and New Year's). As a kid, my Big Birthday Dinner was always Round Steak, Gravy, Mashed Potatoes and German Chocolate Cake. All for me! The Perfect Beef Barley Soup and Fettucine Alfredo with Shrimp (my ex-wife always broke the sauce...) and learning to recognize how things are going to turn out, more or less, before I cook them. Once ruined a beautiful Seven-Blade Roast.