I'm married with 2 young children. Like lots of other folks, after getting married, I finally started learning how to cook when we got tired of take-out food. Watching Foodnetwork taught me lots of skills as well as inspired me to try. I haven't followed the shows much nowadays, but years ago my favorite chefs on FoodNetwork were Giada DeLaurentis, Ina Garten, Bobby Flay, Alton Brown, and Paula Deen. I also watched 30 minute meals with Rachel Ray but never could make my meals in 30 minutes with her recipes! ;0) My pet peeves are when people refuse to try something different, or after they've had one bad experience with a certain ingredient or food then they will never want to taste anything related or with it.