I am finally in a place with enough free time to cook real meals! I started cooking about 2001, when I had my first apartment. I was brave and would have a dinner party once a month for between 10 and 20 friends. Now, I like to experiment (I have an extremely patient fiancee!!) and surprise myself with delicious dishes! I love to find something I like in a restaurant and try to recreate it at home. Sometimes I try to find a recipe, sometimes I just try to make it up. Either way, I´ve learned how to make some really fantastic stuff this way... from any type of cuisine. BAKING BAKING BAKING. My grandmother used to spend a lot of time in the kitchen and baked for about 65 years. Her brownies are to die for and she made them for each of her 19 grandchildren every year for their birthdays (that´s a lot of brownies!!). Also on her list of best things are: lemon orange cake, boiled raisen cake, coffee frosting, etc. Everything was (AND IS) still made by hand. No blenders while baking in my kitchen!! :) Guinness Beef Stew... was a conglomeration of a few recipies that I found. My fiancee is still talking about this one (and I made it months ago!!) oh boy. I am living in Poland and am not accustomed to all the vegetables and things here yet. I made a stir fry (can´t mess those up right??) with some yellow beans that apparently should have been boiled first... It was the only meal I´ve had to throw away up until this point and there was steak in it! :(