Well, right now I live in a house with my husband, my parents, my brother, my grandma, and a constant stream of guests. I am the main cook, and I have a lot of critics. We also have a lot of allergies, dietary "requirements", and likes and dislikes. Mostly I tend to ignore all of these issues and cook what I want. Hey, if they want to cook, they can make whatever they want!
My favorite things to cook
I like to make and decorate cakes. Or really anything that turns out pretty. I'm also kind of a hippie. I don't like using ingredients with preservatives, or artificial colors, or really anything that isn't a "whole" food. After living in Peru, I don't think I will ever cook potatoes or rice again. Yuck.
My favorite family cooking traditions
We're Jewish and we have a nice Sabbath dinner every Friday night. We only have a few dishes on rotation for Sabbath, but no one ever gets sick of them. I think I could eat Challah and chopped liver every night actually. We also have Passover, Rosh Hashanah, Yom Kippur, Sukkot, Purim, and Channukah, all of which require lots of prep time and big traditional meals. I don't even attempt to make matzah ball soup or brisket because no one could top my Aunt's. The only thing I am really allowed to do on holidays is make the salad and desserts.
My cooking triumphs
Cooking breakfast, lunch, and dinner every day for over a year in rural Peru - without electricity, running water, a supermarket, or well anything except my little gas stove and what I could find locally.
At least nothing seems that hard anymore!
My cooking tragedies
I have REPEATEDLY added cold eggs and/or milk to recipes that include melted butter and caused curdling. This is always the last step, and always means I have to throw away the whole batch of whatever I am making. I don't know why I can't learn from my mistakes...