When I was a kid my Dad and my Mom (who hates to cook)worked outside the home. My older sister hates to cook. So, I started cooking for our family at about 8 years old. I can't describe the pride I felt in having dinner on the table when everyone got home. I still do today for my husband and son. I love trying new recipes and tweak them until they suit our tastes. My husband and I have been together for 22 years. I have a wonderful, most days anyway, 10 year old son. I have an amazing 25 year old step-son. He shares my passion for cooking. Well, really, he loves to eat. He figured out the best way to eat was to cook for himself! I also have an amazing, hopefully soon to be daughter in law, who is also 25. My husbands favorite recipe that I make is the Broccoli Cheese Soup from this site. He requests it for lunch almost everyday. I make a huge batch and freeze it in individual containers for him. I like to cook anything that turns out good! Now that I have found the Exchange I have so many new recipes I am dying to try!! Our family sits down together for dinner every night with very few exceptions. This is very important to me. I hope it is a tradition that will continue. When I am trying a new recipe everyone at the table gives it a star rating just like on Allrecipes. Anytime my family says, "Wow, this is REALLY good." Also Thanksgiving 2004 I had a sit down dinner for 24 at my house! It didn't start out that big, it just kind of took on a life of its own. But I pulled it off! I have 2 that really stand out in my mind. 1) I made oatmeal for my Dad one morning for breakfast when I was about 8. I misread the directions and put in 8 teaspoons of salt instead of 1/8 of a teaspoon. 2) I had made chili in a crockpot when I was about 12. I decided to have the leftover another night for dinner. I had put the whole crockpot in the refrigerator. When I was getting ready to heat up the chili (pre microwave days), I just set the crockpot on the burner. Of course, as soon as the ceramic heated up, the crockpot cracked right into two pieces. Chili was EVERYWHERE!! I can still remember cleaning up that mess. AND I then had to figure out something else for dinner.