Julia Child or Chef Boyardee?

I absolutely love to cook, and although I have no formal training I like to think my culinary concoctions turn out rather tasty- most of the time.

My mother was a FABULOUS cook.  I don't remember anything she ever made tasting less than delicious.  My grandmother is a wonderful cook as well.  Me on the other hand, I don't follow old family recipes, or any recipe for that matter (typically), and I'd say most of the time my tasty endeavors are just sad pathetic relics of delectable looking dishes that beautiful and talented chefs prepared on tv.  Now just because my attempts at culinary greatness aren't as gorgeously mouthwatering as the meals I see glistening on television doesn't mean they're any less delicious!  I love pretending like I have my own cooking show.  I always have.  I believe I wrote in a post recently how I loved watching the Galloping Gourmet as a kid, and how I used to pretend I had my own show lol.  I still like to "host" my own culinary tv hit in my own kitchen- when no one is around of course (that'd be too embarrassing).  I'm more of a "pinch of this" or a "dash of that" kind of cook.  That mentality doesn't work out so much when you're trying to bake, so needless to say I'm no Duff.  As a matter of fact box cake mixes don't turn out that well when I prepare them.  My mother could bake anything, cook anything, and I swear to you it would be more delicious than anything Bobby Flay could prepare!  She had so many signature dishes; Bokkeumbap (we pronounced it boo-com-bah, and I just google searched this dish and it is nothing like what she prepared lol, but nevertheless it was delicious), Italian pork chops with homemade mashed potatoes and gravy, delicious homemade mac&cheese, pepper Steak, Cabin Mix (we've talked a bit about this one), chili, and seriously the list could go on and on.  I would help her often in the kitchen as a kid, but for some reason I only remember bits and pieces of recipes.  I do remember how they tasted though, and the combination of the two help me reproduce these dishes in a new way.  They don't taste exactly the same, but they're still somehow just as delicious, because I think it's the memory I have attached to them that I love so much more than anything.  You see as a kid I had that typical "Mayberry" home life.  We ate dinner every evening precisely as my dad came in the door from work.  He would kiss my mother hello, my sister and I would gag, and then we would set down together at this sweet little vintage ice cream table my mom had in our kitchen.  It was a small little wooden table with metal "hair pin" type legs.  The chairs were made of the same type metal wire and the back rest was molded into the shape of a heart.  We had dinner this way every single evening, together, as a family.  Often my dad would leave the tv on in the living room so we could hear the evening news, and we would open the windows and the sliding glass doors in the summer so we could hear the crickets and smell the warm air and fresh cut grass.  What are some of your favorite foods?.