DESSERTS! I cook for other people, to see the expression of pleasure wash over people's faces. My favorite family cooking tradition is a new one: as of last year, we're making a gingerbread house at Christmastime every year. For weeks beforehand, we build it and add to it, and on Christmas Eve we take a hammer to it and eat it. Apple pie! It was the first thing I failed to make when I was learning to cook, but that just made me stubborn. Now I'm known for my apple pie. My cooking tragedy is that my cooking has made me fat ;)