A bit of a scientist about food... I like changing things just a little to see how the final product changes. When I can I like to pour a lot of time into cooking something truly delicious, but I'm not such a food snob that I don't enjoy the classic university student foods. I've on multiple occasions made a game out of tampering with instant white cheddar mac and cheese, spiking it with everything from chili powder or curry powder to good tomato sauce and cottage cheese (replacing the milk), etc. I'll admit to being a big fan of korean instant Kimchi ramen. I'm a Canadian studying at Kyoto U in Japan, spending a lot of time translating recipes out of cookbooks and experimenting with ingredients I didn't have access to in Canada. I'm especially enjoying the accessibility of seafood. The downside of groceries in Japan is the very limited variety of cheese... my local store has two kinds, "Cooking cheese" and "Pizza cheese", both of which appear to be mozzarella and both of which d Favourite ingredients to use: -Cheese (esp. feta, soft goat cheese, fresh parmigiano) -Tomatoes, Red/Orange/Yellow peppers -Fresh ginger, garlic -Herbs & Spices (I collect them) -Mushrooms -Japanese eggplant -Miso Favourite foods: -Stuffed Peppers My Way (this site) -Caramelized onions -Beef stew with red wine -Smokin' Scovilles Turkey Chili (this site) -Gyoza (Japanese dumplings) -Nikujaga (meat and potato stew Japanese style) -Okonomiyaki (a cabbage-based pancake that you put your favourite meats/flavourings into, pan fry, and then top with sauce, mayo, dried fish flakes, and seaweed... lately I've made cheese/mochi, cheese/kimchi, and ume/enoki/squid) Cooking Thanksgiving dinner by myself for the first time, to eat with a bunch of university friends. Baking fancy, complicated cakes for about 8 birthdays in a 3 month period, and having all of them turn out damn good. I will admit to mixing up the characters for sugar and salt and ending up buying two packages of salt when I first got to Japan. That was bad. I'm a bit scatterbrained. I'm the kind of person who loses count at 4 cups of flour... was that 4, or is this next one 4... I've also been known to forget about food and thus overcook things on occasion.