I have been cooking since I was a teenager, where I took over fulltime cooking duties at about 13 or so. My wife is not big on cooking, (they call her the Ramon noodle queen) so I get lots of practice. We have a brand new baby at home, so that makes it a bit hard to find time to cook, but I love it, and I am really starting to get geared up on expanding my cooking horizons. I learned from my Mom, and she was a good cook, but she only made about 3 or 4 things...over and over again. So I only learned how to make 3 or 4 things...but hey, she made them well! I guess a big part of my motivation is that I want my kids to have fond memories of great home cooking! I love our families chili, and I make some mean spaghetti, but my obsession right now is cooking with wine. I make wine as a hobby, so I am really trying to learn how to properly use wine in everyday cooking. Truth be told, a big part of why my Mom only made 3 or 4 dishes is because...my brother a me were picky eaters! So here's hoping that picky eating it is NOT a family tradition that MY kids will continue!! This is a matter of (tounge-in-cheek) contention between my mother and I, but I believe I improved the chili recipe that I grew up on. When I have some of my Moms "original recipe" chili, it just tastes bland to me. My first attempt to cook with wine consisted of my dumping a bottle of sherry on top of fried chicken and simmering it for an hour or so to reduce the wine. Needless to say this is where I learned that a little restraint needs to be used when adding wine to dishes....as the chicken just came out tasting like gooey grape jam chicken :>/