I've got a wonderful husband and we're still pretty much newlyweds (since 2006!). He's been great about eating everything I've made, despite the wide range in success :) Mom gave me a solid background in cooking basics and baking. I started a cooking club while living in Madison, Wisconsin and I credit it with the majority of my recipe collection! I now know more flavors, ingredients, pairings, and techniques. I still miss those girls! We now live outside Seattle and love how much seafood is available! I've learned to shuck oysters and dig for clams. Never before would I have... Hoping to learn more here too! Baking quick-breads, trying new recipes with fresh ingredients. Breakfast foods will always score high with me. I love one-dish meals that have all the veggies, meats, or carbs all in one prep. I love finding dishes that are perfect for company without being fancy or intimidating. :) And anything that can be prepped in advance! It makes it so much more enjoyable when you entertain... After church every Sunday my mom would fix a wonderful lunch for our family and invite the grandparents over. It was great, that was when we got the best food and you could just about guarantee she'd have pie (or 2!) made that morning (she's an early bird!). I don't know if I can compete with that, but I'd certainly like to continue that tradition. My Cooking Club! After to Madison, a few of us ladies started cooking together once a week. We'd get together at someone's home every Monday night and each bring a new recipe and the ingredients for it. We'd help each other make our dishes and then have them for supper that evening with our husbands. It was great! I got to try 4 new recipes without a bunch of leftovers. And I've learned so much from them! Oh geez, I would say the vegetarian lasagna I tried a few years ago, it was awful. My dear sweet Husband could only eat one piece and refused to try any more. It was bad. ...And then there was the time I made a custard pie and misread the amount of sugar to put in. I put in the amount that was supposed to be for the milk. So it was ~7x sweeter than it should have been. Mom helped me to dilute it down and only make 6 pies instead. :) I've also learned now that 1) always keep a frozen pizza on hand and 2) "Unless it's Fatal, It's No Big Deal." Words to live by!