I'm newly retired after a long career as a family therapist. My cooking skills were adequate to feed and raise two healthy children on the run, so to speak. Now they're gone, life is slower, and I'm trying a lot more new things for my husband and me. He just bought me a set of Messermeister knives which really makes cooking wonderful. I'll never use a pre-packaged green salad again if I can help it. I prefer baking, roasting, and slow roasting compared to stirring and frying on the stove. Baked ham, stuffed pork chops, pumpkin pie, and all the holiday cooking, including 4th of July. My mother raised us on simple fare....mashed potatoes, gravy, biscuits, meat loaf, and tapioca pudding. My Christmas dinner last year when I served stuffed pork chops. My brother is a chef, and he raved about them. The first lasagne I ever served to my husband. Ugh!