I learned to cook at my mother's knee. I can't remember a time that I was not in the kitchen. My husband and I auction a 5 course, 5 wine, gourmet dinner for 4 every year. The money goes to charity. I cook and my husband serves and cleans up. Most of the courses are recipes that I have never tried before. I look forward to this every year. Everyone was always welcome to share our meals when I was growing up - we always seemed to have enough to go around. My mission on earth is to feed people. At the age of 17, I made a black forest 6 layer torte, presented on an antique footed plate for a dinner of 20 people. As I brought it into the room, the plate broke and the torte ended up on the carpet in front of all my parent's guests. Luckily, I had made a second one for the family for the next day.