I have a 21-year-old son and a boyfriend who are my best (and sometimes worst) critics. They love testing everything - even though they both can be a bit picky. My sister and mother, however, will eat anything I put in front of them, so if all else fails, they'll try out any new recipe I come across. My sister and I take our 74-year-old mother camping with us several times each summer, and I think sometimes we eat better camping than we do at home -- veggie pizzas, fajitas, and nothing tastes better than a big pot of chili simmered over an open fire! When I'm not camping, I enjoy crocheting, researching my family tree, and working on my huge collection of recipes that I've collected for about 30 years and have put into 8 3-ring binders that I cherish. I love to cook everything, and discover new recipes. Each family member has a favorite dish I make for them whenever I can. Some of my favorites are taco-stuffed jumbo pasta shells, cajun chicken pasta, sweet and sour chicken, smoked sausage stir fry, teriyaki chicken wings, and any dessert. My sister and I try to get together at least once a month to try out a new dish or two. And for the holidays, my mother and I have been making her chocolate-covered cherries every Christmas since I can remember. A new tradition we've added is I make a pumpkin gooey butter cake and my mom makes a banana pudding for Thanksgiving. A tradition that my boyfriend and I started about 3 years ago was to have a full-blown Thanksgiving dinner in July for our families --- everyone looks forward to it every year now! One, I created a meatloaf recipe when I was still in high school that everyone seems to fall in love with; and two, it took me quite a few years, but I finally perfected frying pork chops without turning them into shoe leather! For some reason, I can't make chicken and dumplings no matter what I try. My mom had tried to teach me, but her recipe was a little of this and a little of that and then mix it "until it looks right", and I guess I've just never figured out what looks right!