Jamie,  My love for cooking started in my mother's kitchen.  I started baking cookies when I was just about 7 years old.  I didn't have a recipe.  I would just remember what I saw my Mom put in the cookies she had made earlier in the week.  They always turned out very good.  (At least to me!! )  I kind of got out of cooking when I married a man who loved to cook himself.  He took over the kitchen.  I did continue to bake and still do.   At Thanksgiving and Christmas, my hubby, my daughter and I all end up in the kitchen having a blast.   All of us are cooking something different and having a wonderful time.  Great memories!  Thanks! 

I was always interested in cooking but was not allowed to cook much..apart from noodles or warming up preprepared dishes. Serious cooking started when I was unemployed for 6 month and offered to cook for the family (6 people) until I could start the new job.
First it was mostly "safe" dishes like spaghetti or roast potatoes..but I practiced and read cookbooks and got better.
I still love cooking, have taken cooking lessons too and try to prepare at least one complete meal  for my own family now. And I teach my children how to cook 

love...susanne

My interest in cooking started when I was quite young as I had to help out in the kitchen because of my mother's  continued poor health.I tried very hard to help out and learn as much as I could. My dad had a big veggie garden so there were always fresh veggies to pick and prepare.

I became much more interested in cooking food and experimenting and entertaining when I left home and lived in a shared house with friends.

My OH was a great cook when I met him and together we have strolled down the culinary road trying out new things and reinventing old favourites, and passing this knowledge onto our children and grandchild.

my mom was a great cook of the meat & potatoes school although a little too much influenced by the 1950's 'convenience foods', frozen veg being her downfall. Her favorite cookbook: "The I Hate to Cook Book" by Peg Bracken, featuring pot roast with dry onion soup packets etc. -- it was all really good though (except the frozen brussels sprouts ) -- but reading that book, which was written with a lot of humor, made me think cooking could be fun.
was encouraged to make breakfast for the family on weekends (suspect it was a way to keep me busy, being the first one awake on saturday) - eggs, French toast, crepes, pancakes etc. - age 10
watched Julia Child, Graham Kerr (for his humor), other early TV chefs.

nzhippy wrote:

'you can't trust a skinny baker'.

I prefer the adage 'You can't trust a fat baker/chef'