I have three wonderful children ages 9, 11, and 14. I am also fortunate to have my partner's daughter with us for half of each week. I was a kindergarten/1st grade teacher for the last six years and searching for what my next path will be. My mom would stand me up on a chair in the kitchen, mixing the gelatin for our "salad" while she prepared the rest of the meal. I've been hooked ever since. Everything. I love to read cookbooks and recipes. This site has become a hobby of mine. Every Thanksgiving is the same meal, though I have experimented with brines, clay-pots, etc. with the turkey itself. Turkey, Green Bean Casserole, Corn Pudding, Broccoli-Pine Nut salad, yeast rolls, homemade cranberry-walnut sauce and squash pie. Every Christmas I make my mom's Finish Cupcakes, that taste means Christmas is here. A Japanese friend used to bring me sushi, which I love. When she moved she gave me a Japanese cookbook (which I couldn't read!) sushi rice and a sushi mat with some seasoned rice-wine vinegar. I figured it out with a few sentences penciled in by her - I was so proud of myself! I don't know that it qualifies as a tradegy, but when you cook for six people, I always hear from someone that they don't like the dish I've prepared. I'm constantly compiling mental lists of likes and dislikes around the table.