I have been married for 31 years and have been cooking for all of them and then some! I LOVE to bake...especially breads, cakes and (cookie)bars. I would much rather bake a dessert than make a dinner;) We always make a traditional Thanksgiving like my mom did. We also love to make and eat lots of Lebanese food. My husband is from Lebanon and he is really good at taste-testing to see how authentic the recipes are. The first Thanksgiving meal after my mother passed away I was totally intimidated by making her giblet gravy. I had watched her and helped her for years but I never had made it solo until that year. She must have been sitting on my shoulder because it turned out great! I was thrilled to know that I could do justice to her handed down cooking skills! The very first caked I attempted to bake~ it was aound St. Patrick's day so I used a boxed cake mix and green food coloring. (It even sounds nasty!!) The cake fell and was a hard as a rock! You could have used it as a weapon! Fortunately I didn't give up on baking after that awful experience and I have found my happiest times are when I am making bread or baking sweets to share with my family and friends.