Some of my greatest pleasure comes from recreating the comfort foods and desserts of my childhood. I had the best teachers--my grandmother who made the most delicious fruit pies and sugar cookies and my mother who inspired and encouraged my love of cooking. I blog about quilting and recipes at http://thekatyrose.blogspot.com I like to experiment with all kinds of new recipes. I usually start my search at Allrecipes and have many, many favorites in my recipe file, such as Brown Sugar Meatloaf, Blue Cranberry Sauce, Pear Honey Cranberry Sauce, Best Brownies, and Jalapeno Popper Spread. Thanksgiving is my favorite holiday, and it has always been fun to plan and bake the traditional feast. However, I am now letting my daughter and daughter-in-law take over those duties, and I am enjoying the rest! Favorite Christmas traditions are to bake my grandmother's sugar cookies and gooseberry pie, as well as Danish Kringles from a recipe given to me by my junior high home economics teacher. My greatest compliment is watching people react favorably to the food I have prepared, and especially when my husband says "wow, this is great!" One Thanksgiving when I was sick (that was my excuse), I forgot to put sugar in the pumpkin pie! My DH put whipped cream on it and ate it anyway.