My all-time favorite thing to make is bread. I love the yeasty smell of the dough, and seeing the look on my girls' faces when they eat a fresh warm slice of homemade bread. Since man cannot live on bread alone, I also enjoy making almost anything from scratch so its more healthy and good for the whole family. Also on the top of my list are appetizers for the monthly square dance parties we attend. I love to bake for Thanksgiving and Christmas, and my girls have joined in as they have gotten older. We make several cookies and candies - my favorite is a pecan brittle type candy I got from an old recipe book from the silent film days. Cooking and baking together with my girls is lots of fun and makes the holidays even more special. My best cooking triumph actually started out as being a tragedy. I had just moved into a new house and was using my oven for the first time to make the mini cheesecakes I found on the site. My oven's temperature did not regulate properly so it got too hot (later found it would get to 500 degrees!), and the tops of my mini cheesecakes were scorched and ugly. I tried one and they tasted wonderful, so I just came up with the topper that won everyone's heart for this Valentine's celebration. I melted semi-sweet chocolate chips and spread them on top (to cover the scorched places). I then sliced strawberries, notching the tops when I cut out the stems, so they looked like hearts. They tasted wonderful, made a great presentation at the party table, and got rave reviews.