I came quite late to cooking, since my mother never liked cooking, although she was decent at it. She never shared her recipes, either. I started out baking, and little by little, picked up things on my own. Better Homes and Gardens, Good Housekeeping, McCall's...these were where my first recipes originated. My tastes expanded, more than my waistline, over the years...as did my fear of cooking diminish. But I have loads of horror stories as well. College roommates. Wrong ingredients. Oven not quite right. And so on.

I now feel quite secure in my ability...but am always open to new ideas, recipes, tastes. I will credit Julia...I adored her, though I thought her heyday recipes were too elaborate...I'm not that interested in eight-hour prep time, either, any more. I refer to my falling apart, Joy of Cooking, frequently still, as much for the recipes tucked inside as well as the great advice within. I haven't seen or bought the newest edition, yet. Don't have a Cuisinart...actually want a Kitchaid.

I watch PBS for their frequent cooking shows. I especially like a short program, called Posh Nosh, that is charmingly citric. I also have the complete DVD collection of the former BBC show: Chef! And, after reading through this thread, I, too, am hungry, and would've loved to have been at the English dinner described in luscious details.

BTW, Scoville, I'm not sure if this was intentional or not, but your link to Texas Cooking took me to Amazon.com and a group called Luscious Jackson. It provided me with a little after-dinner music from their album: "Fever In Fever Out." I prefer Peggy Lee for my "Fever," although this group was interesting. Do you get a commission? ;D