I am a 26 year old graduate law student from Germany and married to a wonderful loving and slightly chaotic husband who happily samples all the different dishes I cook and experiment with:-). With our multicultural background we are never afraid to try new things.I love sports, travel, a good book (finding new items for my growing cookbook collection)or movie, I am also interested in arts, design and architecture. There are too many to name them all, but I some of my favorite kitchens are the German (nothing is better than the taste of home) the French, the original Italian, the Austrian, Hungarian and Croatian (for the great confection of pastry),the Thai, and since my husband is Jewish, I learned to appreciate the Jewish kitchen, too (it amazes me how diverse it is). When I have time I love to cook dishes that need a lot of preparation and time, however I don't think that gourmet food necessarily needs to be complicated. A very simple dish with a few excellent ingredients and a good glass of wine can be more delightful and satisfying than a 5 course menu. I try to use only fresh natural products and to avoid convenience food and flavor enhancers, since they tend to ruin more than they help and often you'll find it equally easy and fast to whip the few fresh ingredients together. I have been interested in cooking as long as I can remember. My mom taught me all the important basics and a lot of traditional family recipes such as Christmas cookies, roasts, schnitzel,spaetzle, potato salad (the only recipe my dad taught me, since it's the only thing he can cook :-) ) and many more. Even when I was a child she let me help and gave me smaller tasks I was able to handle. She is my hero when it comes to cooking, it amazes me how she is able to even make the most delicious meal out of a couple of leftovers she also taught me to always be open and curious. Now I try to follow her lead and incorporate traditional and new recipes to form new traditions for my own little family :-). Mastering a perfect beef filet. Many over the years (in non chronological order):trying to bake matzah bread when I was 6years old and transformed my mom's kitchen into a floury winter wonderland :-), forgot to put baking powder/ yeast into the dough, forgot a roast in the oven and almost burned the house down, managed to glue a steak to the pan (high temperatures and oil instead of lard..... very bad idea)