I have loved to cook and bake since I was a teenager. I still have the picture I took of my first apple pie. I was so proud of that. I love to cook everything. I have never made anything out of a box. My kids were thrilled to have Kraft mac & cheese at their friends houses. I grill, bake and use my slow cooker for a wide variety of comfort foods, gourmet, ethnic, pastries, you name it. The family tradition when my girls were young was our "misfit" tables. Holidays were always an assortment of folks that had nowhere to go, were lonely or just needed some acceptance. Being a single mom, we didn't have a lot of money. But when anyone was hungry I could prepare them a meal. Sometimes that can make anything you were going through so much better. We have many memories that make us feel warm. I have put a cook book together titled "Gayle's Hand Collected, Personally Kitchen Tested and Perfected, Tasty,Yummy, Soul Filling Recipes; For Family and Friends That Grace My Table With Hearts full of Love and Laughter" My "bible" is Larousse Gastronomique. It weighs about 20lbs, most of it in French with the metric measures. My triumph is translating, finding the ingredients (even having fresh and hard to find shipped to me, converting the measurements and in the end...having an amazing food experience. To me it's not just eating the food. It is the emotion and feeling that a meal inspires. When I was 17, I was dating a man twice my age and had already been married. I wanted to act like a grown up and cook for him. Where I lived, London Broil was sliced the long way and rolled into a pin wheel and tied with string. Not knowing this, I cut the string and saute`d these 12" strips in a 10" skillet. A very confused face when I served it let me know you do not unroll London Broil!