i'm in my mid-20's now and probably one of the very few people i know my age who learned all about cooking and how to do it from my mom who is a really great cook who would home-can things in the summers, bake for christmas and all sorts of things like that...i'm sad that really great home cooking seems to be a dying art in the midst of so much convenience food... i love sort of making dinner up as i go along...i consider recipes (for both cooking and baking) a general guideline or a starting point off which to launch to something else...baking is probably my favorite thing though because its so easy to bake extra of something or whip up cookies or a cake to give to someone else or take to a gathering of friends... christmas baking is definitely my favorite...press cookies, almond bark, candy cane cookies, butter tarts and on and on...i also remember my mom making baking powder biscuits every sunday night when we would have biscuits and home made canned peaches for dinner... i haven't tried anything too extravagent, usually my triumphs are slightly by mistake... the first time i ever made bread in the bread maker i put in 2 tablespoons of salt instead of 2 teaspoons...that loaf made very good croutons :) recently i made quick peanut butter fudge (the kind where you use sweetened condensed milk) and i left the fudge out of the fridge too long before serving it...we had to scoop it up with our fingers :P