I have cooked for myself for a while, but am just learning to REALLY cook. I believe that almost anyone can cook almost anything if they follow the instructions. That being said, I am a very experimental cook, and I almost never follow a recipe. I can start out making fried chicken and wind up with a lovely pork roast by the time I'm done substituting. Sometimes this yields great successes, sometimes not so much. I love preparing things that just include a few ingredients combined into one simple, but tasty dish. I've got a 3 ingredient chocolate torte that would knock your socks off. I occasionally use the smoke detector as a timer.