Revised 12/18/2011 Here it is eight years later and my profile has lain dormant with no revisions or updates. I’m still developing and modifying recipes to suit my cooking style and taste. I have an extensive library of published recipes, (45) and unpublished recipes (200+). Some of these are the work of many fine authors and are “keepers”. In addition, I have a nice collection of cookbooks for reference to augment my cooking skills. Iron Chef Rancho is alive and still cooking.I live to cook another day. Recipes are a baseline from which to start. You see a recipe, you try it, and if it works, you incorporate it into your recipe box as a “keeper.” Many recipe boxes have been handed down from generation to generation with some of the nicest dishes I’ve ever tasted. I subscribe to cooking magazines such as Bon Appetite, and Cook’s illustrated to name a few. I also test recipes for America’s Test Kitchen. In addition to this, I have also been on TV cooking several times. I’m not sure I have any “real favorites” I like to cook. I’m always experimenting with new recipes and cooking techniques that I employ with my recipes. I'm all over the board as to what I cook. “I may revise this answer later” is what I said in the beginning. Here it is later and I’m revising my answer. Cooking traditions according to the norm is something you learned when you were growing up and still do today. Or it is like the “classical “Thanksgiving dinner. You have the same things year after year. This could also be a family style of cooking as well. I learned many things over time and have created my own style of cooking. With a few exceptions of course. That being the case, I don’t have any true cooking traditions. Wow, cooking triumphs. Where do I go with this question? I guess as far as triumphs go I would say that any meal people devour and you have little or no leftovers is a triumph. As for extending that I would have to say any time I create a new recipe would also fall into that category. Cooking on my Sisters grill wasn’t a good experience. I put the steaks on the grill, closed the lid like I always do and went into the house to finish the accompaniments. I noticed there was an abnormal amount of smoke coming from the grill and I panicked. I dashed out and the grill was a blaze and the steaks were crispy critters. YIKES! None the less, I scraped the char off and we ate them and the outcome was very disappointing. On another occasion I was hosting a small dinner party and the entrée was Cabernet Tri Tip Roast. I was taking it out of the oven so I could turn them and the roasting pan caught the upper lip of the oven. The top came off and liquid spilled all over the oven, door and floor. I was not happy and there was a blue cloud hanging over me for a while… Cleaned up the mess and continued with the meal. What a mess.