I've loved to cook since I was a little girl helping my mom in the kitchen. I used to bake brownies & 2-tier cakes for my dad with my Easy-Bake Oven in the early '70s. As I got older I got bored cooking the same thing and started watching cooking shows & researching recipe websites. Now, cooking has become one of my favorite hobbies. I'm all about the one dish meals! All the flavors meld together, saves time & less cleanup. Being originally from Georgia, my parents and grandparents always cooked southern style. I grew up on fried chicken, greens cooked in ham-hocks & bacon grease, homemade mac-n-cheese baked in the oven & pecan pie. My Mimi would make that same menu every time we visited before she passed away. We had 14 guests for Christmas 2008. I bought a 12 pound Prime Rib & used my dad's recipe. It came out perfect & everyone complimented me. I even made my own horseradish cream sauce & au jus. I've never cooked for that many people in one sitting. It was definitely a triumph! Pasta!! I bought one of those new pasta pots with the built-in strainer. Once the pasta was done I tilted the strainer on its side, inside the pot of boiling water to drain. It didn't stay tilted....it fell back into the boiling water & splashed all over me. Still have a scar on my stomach. My boyfriend cooks the pasta now.