I'm a stay-at-home mom and aspiring screenwriter. I don't love to cook as much as I love to EAT, and I'm pretty picky, so cooking is essential for me, not necessarily fun. ;-) I do love to have a whole bunch of people over and cook for them though, that IS fun, especially if you add sangria, and I usually do! My favorite things to cook are usually the things that require the fewest dishes, or the stuff that I can use in multiple ways, like a kickass spaghetti sauce. Eggnog (homemade, of course), cheesecake and prime rib for Christmas, roast turkey, bacon green beans and homemade pumpkin pie at Thanksgiving, ham, homemade bread, and broccoli with cheese sauce at Easter, barbecue all summer, homemade ice cream for birthday parties, grandma's teriyaki marinade, and hanging around the kitchen with family, friends and good, local wine! I've discovered the amazing transformative powers of three or four essential ingredients: garlic, salt, rosemary, olive oil make everything amazing. My kids ALWAYS eat their vegetables, how about that?! My family swears that my split pea and lentil soup has healing powers, but I know that simply caramelizing the ingredients together before adding water makes all the difference. Early in my marriage I worked on a beef dish for 90 minutes, one thing going wrong after another, unexpected substitutions, things taking longer than I had anticipated, hungry family in from out of town, when a sudden movement (from me) knocked my 18" skillet to the floor, upside down. We brought the dog in to do cleanup and ate out!