Hi! Well, I am a semi-beginner, as I just started cooking/baking about two years ago when I moved out on my own for the first time. I ended up realizing how much I LOVE cooking and baking! It has become such a therapeutic and comforting hobby - that even on a Friday night after a long day at work, I sometimes would rather spend until past midnight, cooking up something new.. how ever disastrous the result. :-) I rarely make the same thing twice, not because I don't like it, but because my love and curiosity for trying new recipes, overbears the tried and true. Pastas, pizzas, grilling steaks, seafood, sauces, unconventional desserts,.. oh and Thai food. Yum! My very first time making dinner for my parents - I think I may have been 17. I wanted to majorly impress them by making a creamy pasta dish. Well, the recipe called for "whipping cream", but I thought that was the same thing as "whipped cream".. aka cool whip. I was really shocked - and thought, wow, I never knew they used whipped cream in pasta dishes! :-b My parents seemed to be quite forgiving, but the question marks on their faces concurred with mine. I didn't figure it out until about 5 years later when I was at the grocery store and saw "whipping cream" in the dairy aisle. OOPS! :) Many cooking tragedies have followed..