I've been married for 9.5 years but not until the past year have I really delved into cooking. I used to be terribly intimidated by cooking and my husband was so talented at it, I just figured I couldn't do it, so I rarely strayed away from my 'usual recipes', many that I grew up with. But in the past 2 years, I've been doing lots of self searching and being more confident in myself and my abilities, and have discovered that I actually have a deep love and interest in cooking! I think about it all the time and can't wait til the next time I'm let loose in the kitchen with some free time! My favorite things to cook are things I know my family is looking forward to - so anything along the lines of chilis, casseroles, stews and ethnic foods. Through the vast selection of recipes here on allrecipes.com, I've been able to look up and experiment with foods from my ethnic background that I haven't tried before, but have enjoyed during family get togethers - asian/islander cuisine. Every few days I seem to have cooking triumphs these days. I'm not only surprising myself, but when my PARENTS are surprised and pleased with my food - it's quite a triumph for me, too :) Oh dear, I haven't had many tragedies just yet, but certainly have had things that I "won't try again". At this point, 3 out of 4 of my meals are following recipes, so those don't go awry too often - unless I improvise, haha. I have let out ingredients before and been super bummed about it! But I just gotta keep going, because it makes ME happy - and of course, my family.