Since I was a little girl, I have loved cooking. I never considered it drudgery and probably should have chosen it as a career, but I don't think I would like doing it for my family if it were my job. My father's mother was my greatest cooking influence. She was a typical German Haus Frau that made the main meal of the day around noon and everyone ate together. Unfortunately upon her death, we lost many a wonderful recipe because she did not write things down and she gave up most of what she knew to Alzheimer's disease:( I love to cook German food as well as most ethnic foods. I also love trying new things and at holidays I pull out all the stops! We have had some of the most amazing Christmas parties at our small home that there could ever be! I learned how to decorate cakes on the side and made my brother's wedding cake which turned out awesome! Recipes to me are only meant to be a "guide". I love to make German food, especially having lived there for almost 4 years! Some of our favorites are Gulasch Suppe (a Bavarian favorite), Rahmschnitzel (pork in a beef flavored cream sauce) and kartoffelpuffer (potato pancakes). Making pasta is also a lot of fun and tastes MUCH better than that old box kind from the grocery store! I also love to work with anything that includes yeast....always a challenge! I know the secret to making great rolls and bread and there is no better potpourri I know of for your house than a yeast dough baking in the oven:) Creating is just as fun...just trying different ingredients together can really come together and make an amazing end product! I pull out the stops when I cook....we have had so many different kinds of holiday parties. The best was probably a holiday brunch that my husband and I threw at my parent's home. Took me 2 days before Christmas to prepare and filled 3 refrigerators.....this was to feed 30 people. T'was a BIG hit! I also love to cook during snowstorms...there is nothing like coming in from shoveling or playing in the snow to a warm casserole or soup made with love:) Cooking on camping trips is probably one of the most interesting out of all of those though. I could just dream up all kinds of things to cook over/in a fire, not to mention that I love s'mores, *banana splits* (bananas split, wrapped in foil with all kinds of goodies inside and thrown in the campfire) and pudgie pies. And I wonder why I have a hard time with diets!! :p My husband is 2nd generation American Hungarian and he missed having Kieflies. When his Grandmother passed away, no one made them any longer. I searched high and low for a recipe, finally finding one that sounded like his description of them. Since I had only seen them maybe once or twice, it was a challenge trying to find just the right recipe. I made them Christmas of 2002 and he and his family raved! I probably got the biggest compliment from his brother who I think missed them more than he did! As picky as his family is about old family recipes, I took this as a big compliment! Many friends, relatives and work colleagues tell me that I should be in business, but I always tell them that I don't think that it would thrill me the same way if I were cooking as my career. The nice thing about it though is my daughter IS a chef for a retirement community, so there is one in the family:) The real honor is that she tells me all the time, "I am not half the chef you are Mom!" To be honest, the only one I can think of is when I first got married, I left spaghetti sauce on the burner while I went to talk to a neighbor. I didn't remember it till it was too late....had 2 inches worth of burned sauce on a very expensive stainless steel pot! I still have the pot though....took 3 days to get it all out!