I'm the Director of Domestic Relations at our house and of all my duties, cooking is definitely my favorite. Our kids were always rather finicky eaters, so I had to get creative at times. But I'm so fortunate to have a husband that will eat just about anything I set in front of him. That gives me license to try new recipes and ideas almost every day (since all but two of the kids are grown and gone). When I'm not hanging out at the stove I like to read, play computer games, do volunteer work and I sing in our church choir. I would love to write a book that would teach beginning cooks all the little things that took me years to learn. Things like, how adding a tsp of salt to the water for boiling eggs makes them a breeze to peel. Or the difference between margarine and butter when baking something. Maybe someday... Casseroles - I love having it all in one dish or pan, and they're usually beautiful when they come out of the oven. Cookies - who doesn't love a good cookie?! I also like to make just about anything I haven't tried to make before - must be the challenge. Holidays with all the women in the kitchen and the guys in the livingroom pretending to watch TV. I think they're really drooling and talking about how long it will be until the meal is served. I consider it a personal triumph when there are no leftovers. Now, THAT'S a good meal! And not too long ago, my teenager tried to make a cookie recipe I had previously made. He said my stuff always tastes better than his because I use a secret ingredient -- LOVE! Way back when I was first learning to cook, I was making dinner for my mom, brother and sister-in-law. One of the side dishes was to be broccoli with cheese sauce, using my sister-in-law's recipe for the sauce. Well, I was trying to make it from memory and could NOT get the sauce to thicken. I put it in a serving dish, hoping it would thicken up as it cooled a little. The dreaded moment came. My brother was the first to spoon some onto his broccoli and said, "Uh, did you forget the flour in this or is it supposed to be cheese milk?" These days, I make FABULOUS cheese sauce - from memory!