well, I'm 30 and married (in '04) became a mother to a beautiful baby girl (Oct. '06) and became diabetic in '05. Living in Fayetteville,NC all my life, but not raised a southern girl..my grandmother is from Vienna, Austria and my mom was born in Germany, so I was raised umm semi-European...the first time someone tried to get me to eat "American" potato salad, I was disgusted, I still do not eat that stuff esp. w/ all that mayo or what not, the potato salad I'm used to consists of things like onions and vinegar. My mom is a great cook, when she cooks, she seems to cook for an army...I've attempted things she's made, still in the process of learning and perfectin, but have no complaints from anybody that's eaten my food, which makes me feel good. I've learned a southern recipe or 2, especially my husbands favorite, chicken n pastry, and won my mother over with it too. That's enough to make one's ego swell. I really enjoy baking more, making pot pies, cakes and cookies and such...usually my 2 big baking holidays are Halloween and Christmas. But, recently, I've left the hospital and am now diabetic, so now I'm limited if not banned from sweets, so my husband suggests I not do that baking til my blood sugar is "fixed", so I'm not tempted to eat the cookies, let alone the actual dough (you know that's ALWAYS the best part) don't really have any traditions, I offer to cook for holidays, but I never know what the rest of my family will want. hmm, they may sound simple, but to me they were accomplishments, cuz we are our own worst critics. Lemon Meringue pie (that egg white bit is soo tricky, but I got it) Hungarian ghoulash (comes out perfect everytime) Chicken Pot Pie (simple enough I know, but a recipe I got off of here, I've tried, and everyone, everyone here loves it, even people who don't like pot pie at all) and last but not least, Turkey, yet another recipe I found here, and nobody wants me to change it... I've tried making pumpkin cake, but always ends up wrong, under cooked and just nasty. Also when I try very new things with new spices and herbs, if I'm not familiar enough, yeah, uber gross on my end..