I am a philosopher that enjoys a variety of experiences. I strive for self-reliance - cooking is just one interest that allows me to actualize that desire. I try not to put many constraints on my cooking experiences which helps me to try new things. Since I live alone, I find that I don't deviate much from cooking entrees. I also avoid recipes that call for more than 10 ingredients - that's just way too expensive. Good food can be had for few dollars than that. I like cooking italian, various soups, indian, mexican, thai, "meat and potato" dishes, roasts, and the occasional rattlesnake to name a few. I don't really have any family cooking traditions that evoke pleasant memories. The food was always good but unfortunately, there wasn't much risk taken in trying new recipes. I have found many great recipes on this site - hungarian mushroom soup and spinach tortellini are two of my favorites. Discovering those recipes and taking the first bite/mouthful were truly enlightening experiences. Those are the moments that I live for. I recently tried an indian lamb stew that also turned out magnificently. My biggest cooking tragedy was beer cheese soup. It was suggested that I use an IPA beer with this recipe. The end product tasted like thick, warm beer. I don't think this was the intended result and not only that, I ended up sick for the day.