I'm a student and a teacher at the Northern Arizona University and I started cooking to save money. Turns out, cooking makes you really popular with hungry students. Who knew? I LOVE spices. I love playing with spices in a variety of dishes. I first learned about my favorite spices and variations cooking Indian food and soups. I've since branched WAY out. My grandmothers used to cook at all the holiday meals. Somehow my mother missed out on learning to do this and I picked it up instead. My very first attempt at Lamb Saag was really exciting. Everyone loved it and it's part of my permanent cooking oevre. I've learned to be VERY careful with lemon. I tried to make a white wine clam sauce once... disaster. Totally inedible. My advice... always start with 1/2 the called for lemon. Then go from there.