I'm 21, living on Long Island. Looking to gain more experience in made to order food prep, so I can attend culinary school next semester. Here's a bit about my cooking: Nutritionally rich and simple, while elegant and flavorful, well-balanced. I like all of my compontents to be pleasantly enhanced with flavor. Using the freshest ingredients is also most important to me. I make as much as I can from scratch and while I enjoy rich foods and techniques, like butter sauces, cheeses, frying, etc., I balance it out with lighter components, and believe that dishes like this can be imparted to a healthy, well-balanced diet, as long as fresh, organic, unprocessed, and whole ingredients are used. -Can't decide.. I love playing around with herbs, spices, and flavorings to make sauces, dips, spreads, and the like. I love making spice mixtures from scratch. -I love working with vegetables. My meals usually center around a vegetable, in terms of how I flavor it. -Fritters/Pancakes.. So versitile, fast outright fun. I love experimenting with different veggies and legumes and it's also fun to try different crusts, like crushed nuts, crackers.. and dipping sauces.. Great for an interesting snack. -Soups: So versitile.. Also a quick, simple way to make something really special. -Methods: Saute, braising, pan-searing (love the crip-crunch with the tender juicer interior created by this method), grilling, roasting No traditions yet.. Except for my mother's delicious almond crescent cookies. -Whole wheat blueberry muffins spiked with ground flaxseed. Yummy and healthy.. Everybody loved them, but they were gone so quickly! -Risotto: It came out lovely my first time making it.