Chef Wannabe My favorite meals to cook are big holiday meals for family gatherings. I may get a little stressed, but I am on cloud nine when I have a day off work and I can plan out the entire meal for a group. Thanksgiving dinner, hands down. Brining my first turkey, learning to make cheesecakes from scratch, and teaching myself to can (especially salsa). It's a close tie...either the first time I tried to make tomato sauce that turned out completely inedible or the time the glass casserole dish exploded all over my beautiful pan of lasagna.