I have been cooking since I was about 10 years old and learned by watching my mother and older brother - a very accomplished cook. I enjoy baking pies or preparing large holiday meals by myself. I enjoy the challenge of getting everything done at the same time, so it's all hot when it's time to eat. I work as a reporter for a small weekly newspaper. One year when my editor got information for the county fair, she noticed there was a pie baking contest. She suggested I enter my Dutch apple pie and write a story about it. It was the first time a man had ever entered the competition, and I won first prize. One time when I made chicken and dumplings, I had put the dumplings in the soup and answered the front door. It was an encyclopedia salesman who kept me and my wife occupied for an hour and a half. When I got back to the kitchen, the dumplings had disintegrated and the soup was a thick paste.