I have been a wine and foodie for years! I have loved collecting recipes and being in the kitchen as long as I can remember. Living in a large city with so many cuisines (and authentic ones) is very important to me. My all time favorites are anything Italian and desserts. I have recently started stepping it up on my appetizers, too! One of the most memorable family traditions is my Grandmother's Christmas cookies. I can remember making those every year since I was very young. After she passed away, I continue to make them using her exact recipe. They just have never tasted the same as hers! Another great tradition my Dad started was making Chicken Booyah. It is extremely regional...Green Bay, WI. It's basically a chicken soup that cooks outside in a huge kettle all day. I can remember getting together with all the neighbors and chopping all the vegetables for this enormous batch of booyah he would make the next day. We always had it for special occasions and neighborhood get togethers. I make a phenomenal lasagna and mexican lasagnaI had girlfriends over for dinner one night and made a mushroom, carrot, and spinach stuffed chicken breast with garlic mashed potatoes, seven layer salad, and fresh hot fried pumpkin empanadas with vanilla bean ice cream. Yummmmmmm!!! I can't recall any specific tragedies. I would say that all the years I was single, it was just a tragedy to make a recipe and end up throwing most of it away because I could only eat so much. That happened all the time because I loved to cook and try recipes.