I grew up in a family who was never really big on cooking. My grandma loved to cook, and my dad had his specialty dishes (I've never found a sugar cookie that matched his!),but my mom just wanted to get it over with. She didn't want a mess in the kitchen either, so I really didn't start cooking until I got married! I've always been creative and enjoy all types of crafts, including painting, counted cross stitch and now fabric arts and digital graphic arts. Thankfully, I had the sense to marry a man who loves to cook! ; ) We moved to the midwest a few yrs ago from Texas. I surely miss the foods from there that we all love. I don't get to spend much time in the kitchen any more though. I love to make cookies and muffins. There's something about portable, personal food that I love. Each New Year's Eve, we do a potluck/buffet, even when it is only us. We don't have a formal meal - it is all munchies and crock pot food. When I was growing up, my favorite tradition was Christmas Eve dinner at my Grandma Welsh's house. Every year was the same - we had oyster stew and homemade rolls. I was never a big fan of the stew, but loved the smells coming out of the kitchen. Cookies have to be the biggest triumph for me. While I can make plenty of dishes, I really only enjoy cookies. I am working on enjoying making pies! The ones I've done are great - I just don't really enjoy making them as much. Thanks to an accident a couple yrs ago, I can no longer stand for long times, so my cooking/baking time in the kitchen has pared down to almost non-existant now. I find that I miss it a great deal. My first big bomb was our first family Thanksgiving at our house when we were newlyweds. We had a full house. For some reason, I put the sweet potatoes covered with marshmallows too close to the broiler and they caught on fire! We had flames licking from the stove. Instead of getting Hubby, I pulled my brother in law into the kitchen to help put it out! Ha! Everything else was fine, but we still laugh about the flaming taters.