I never had much interest in cooking, however I quickly tired of the same ole hunk-o-meat, can-of-veggie side, and a lump of potato every night for dinner and cracked open a cookbook. And actually made something in it! Baking is much more fun, its a treat, its special; whereas cooking is a daily chore. A little slice of heaven straight from the kitchen, pie is my favorite creation. Everybody has a favorite pie, but it seems most people are intimidated when it comes to making it and usually skimp by with a store-bought crust not realizing that its actually pretty easy to make. Baking, to me, is a family tradition. My grandma knows every time I start to bake something new because Im quick to ring her up when I need to know how it suppose to feel/look. Bread. Yeast to me is like kryptonite to Superman. I follow the directions down to the exact measurement, the exact temperature - and always end up with dough that will not rise properly. I use to have no problem when I was young and had a woodstove as our only heat source, but I have since flown the coop of home and have a furnace...and I had not been able to make bread without the special spot behind the woodstove that was just right for proofing bread. I was determined to not let the yeast win. I baked a batch every day for a week, tweaking little things here and there, getting use to the feel of the bread, until *finally*, success! My husband says there is nothing like my homemade bread. Too many tragedies to tell. I suppose my first one was when I was a child and not allowed to use the stove or oven and I wanted to make Jiffy muffins. Did you know that you can not put the batter into Tupperware cups and microwave it for the entire bake time? Tupperware actually will melt, and your microwave will be so stinky it will need to be tossed out.