I have 4 kids, all grown with only one at home. Twin grandsons that are 3. I work part-time so I try to always cook or have things ready for my husband to put together. Cooking is my hobby, or at least looking at recipes. Before finding all recipes I would check cookbooks out at the library. I don't always use the recipes I get, instead using the ideas as jumping off points, My very fave thing to do is look in the pantry, fridge and freezer to come up with quick satisfying meals with a flair. When I taste something I like I will literally drive my family nuts with trying over and over to find out how to replicate it. So all things are my favorite! My mom always tried new recipes and foods. In the 70's we were eating foods that my friends hadn't ever hear of. As a mom I tried to introduce my kids to different foods and textures. My oldest son in the navy calls me from time to time for recipes. The funny thing is they are the things that I have developed through the years. How do you describe your tastes to someone else? In the early years of marriage (i was very money deprived) I used what we had and what we could afford. My two most memorable recipes were cantalope preserves and lentil burgers. I would go to the flea markets on Sunday late afternoon to pick through the produce left by vendors. After bringing home a bounty of cantalope once I found a recipe in a old ball canning recipe book and made incredible cantalope preserves. The other triumph came from having $25 a week for groceries, a hungry family and a cookbook from the library. I made lentil burgers which were memorable to me but I'm positive the family put it out of their minds as soon as the could! I have made a handful of meals that were inedible. The latest was a recipe off this website that had hundreds of raving reviews. It was chicken, stuffing, broth and a crock pot. The funny thing was that my husband and son found it inedible, but my picky son in college who was home for "real food" devoured it. Does that mean that I have spoiled the family at home by cooking solely to their wants and likes or is my college son starving from being on his own?