I'm a nerdy video-gaming mother of 1 who began to take an interest in cooking when I was pregnant - wee fetus kicked up an urge in me to give up my grilled cheese and frozen pizza repertoire. Cooking is fun and relaxing, even if some of my dishes are duds. I love to make omelets exploding with way too many veggies, crockpot meals, Mexican-inspired casseroles, and meals that don't require me timing 3-4 different sides and entrees that all have to be coordinated to serve at the same time. I also enjoy hosting parties where everybody brings tapas or hors d'oeuvres b/c it's fun to make lots of little nibble-ey things rather than mapping out a meal. Belly-rubbing-comfort-foods. My favorite family meals growing up were chicken & dumplings, blinis with applesauce, and pot roast with carrots and egg noodles. New traditions that are developing with my husband, preschool daughter and I include decorate-your-pizza-Fridays, and weekend mornings consisting of sloppy, syprup-ey waffles, and veggie-laden egg dishes. It was very intimidating to go into my first Thanksgiving a la rock_lobster several years back, but it turned out successful and delicious, and now I'm anxious to offer help at any holiday meal. I accidentally put sweetened condensed milk into a corn chowder instead of evaporated milk! *GAG!* Also, I was at the beach with my family last summer and it was my night to cook so I made-do with what the rented cottage had and prepared Paella in a big soup pot. 2 hours later, and hungry folks nibbling hors d'oeuvres in anticipation of dinner, and the rice was half crunchy-disaster, half squishy pudding-consistency.