I have been interested in cooking since I was a child, but I never actually applied myself to learning more about it until recently. I have found that cooking is very fulfilling and actually helps me to relax after a hard day at work. In addition I find great satisfaction in preparing foods that my wife and daughter really enjoy. I give a lot of credit for my renewed interest in cooking to all of the men and women who have submitted recipes and reviews on AllRecipes.com. I hope that the reviews of my recipes will aid me in the fine-tuning of my cooking skills. I enjoy cooking New England clam chowder. I use an awesome recipe from an old Better Homes & Gardens cookbook. I also enjoy cooking anything Mexican, because my wife loves Mexican food. My parents did not have any cooking traditions that they handed down to me. However, my aunt would always make candy for Christmas, which she always mailed to the relatives before she had a stroke. This is a tradition that I would like to start again as well as creating some new traditions for my own family. I make "real mean" smoked pork steaks. I smoke them on my charcoal smoker/grill using hickory chips after seasoning the steaks with Lawry's Seasoned Salt or McCormick Season All seasoned salt. Each time I make them my family and friends rave about them. The first time I made rice pudding I made it for my wife as a surprise, because she was not feeling well. Unfortunately, I used too much rice, which I overcooked, so it turned out very pasty. I didn't want to make my wife any more sick than she already was, so I just threw the entire bowl of it in the garbage and started over. The second attempt turned out much better, and my wife loved it.