My mom was a stay at home mom, so she did all sorts of cooking and baking as I was growing up. She made sure I knew how to handle myself in a kitchen, and taught me all about spices and how to use them. Lately, I love trying to immitate dishes I have in restaurants. My boyfriend always says, he would rather stay home and eat my cooking because it is better tasting and healthier than what we find eating out. Mom's homemade strawberry jam (now it's me and my boyfriend doing the picking and canning). Roast beef and yorkshire pudding (my grandparents were from England, so this is a must for special occasions). Making my boyfriend's Mom a birthday cake from scratch ("Dark Chocolate Cake I", "Chocolate Ganache Icing" for filling) using fondant and homemade chocolate flowers("Plastic Chocolate")that looked professional.(Mom said it was one of the nicest things anyone ever did for her). My first pie crust attempt for my boyfriend's birthday. I actually cried over it. Actually, I guess it wasn't a total tragedy, since it came together enough in the end to have a passable pie. And it tasted great.