I come from a family of great cooks. My grandmother put on lavish parties that everyone reaved about for weeks after. If you went to one of my grandmother's parties, you were well entertained with delectable food, fine spirits (even these she had special recipes) and unusual party antics - like the year she sent mystery clues to the invited guests with cryptic instructions for them to figure out who and where this Christmas party was being held! These clues sent guests all over town looking for more clues! I was just a child, but I remember the excitement and the fun! My mom carried on the tradition and passed down her knowledge and skill to my two sisters and me. My sister has been a cook for years at various fine dining establishments and she even had a catering business for a while. My other sister also has a fantastic flair for cooking and we flock to her house for holiday feasts to taste that good and hearty New England cooking at it's finest. I love to bake. Bake, bake bake. Whether it be pies, cakes, cookies, or breads - I love it all. I get bored if I cook the same thing over and over and like to try new recipes. I always have to make them my own by putting a twist in the recipe - usually adding an ingredient or changing a small part of the process that I think will enhance the outcome (although not always!!) My grandmother lived in the same home as our family and every year growing up, my grandmother would bake for the holidays. She would start before Thanksgiving and freeze tin after tin of cookies, tarts and cakes. She would haul out every kind of colored sugar, sprinkles, food coloring for icings and every other kind of decorative topping and us kids would decorate sugar cookies for hours on end. The cookies looked hideous, but we had the best fun. I did the same thing with my daughter and now that she is grown, she plans on doing the same with her children when she has them. She speaks often of this "Tradition" and how much fun we had together, laughing, talking and decorating cookies. As a child, my grandmother always cooked and baked for practically any occasion. She would start baking long before the holidays began and freeze the contents in tins. My sisters and I would always sneak into the freezer and take some of these home-baked goodies. My grandmother got wise to this w No matter if I cook for my husband (it is just he and I now) or for a crowd a work, I put my heart and soul into what I make. Everything I make is a triumph because I love it so much. I like to use the same utensils that my grandmother used such as her wooden chopping bowl (for chopping nuts or onions or whatever), her bread board (for kneading), her wooden spoons (for stirring) and even the mixing bowls. I do have modern appliances, but when time permits, I like to use my hand chopper and the wooden bowl. Using these things reminds me of the happy times I spent with my grandmother and the love she put into everything she cooked. I made a Duck L'Orange that had to be thrown in the trash - it tasted horrible. I don't know what I did wrong, but whatever it was, it was definitely wrong!