I work as a computer programmer and since I often find my work difficult and need help, I just love to create something in the kitchen by myself. I read cookbooks and browse internet sites always looking for new recipes, techniques and tips. I would love to go to cooking classes so that I could learn the functions of various ingredients and methods. Once I decide on making a new recipe for a special event, a holiday or just to experiment, I get very excited and luckily my wonderful husband encourages my creativity. Also, my older daughter loves to cook and I feel very proud about this. I love cooking with vegetables and this includes making salads of all kinds. Salads can be so beautiful, appetizing and refreshing as well as healthy and fun. I cooked like a vegetarian for ten years and was mostly influenced by Mollie Katzen's books. We generally try to eat foods that are not fried and do not contain alot of fat. We make an exception on certain holidays. We eat traditionally--or at least a somewhat healthy version of traditionally--for our wonderful relgious holidays. My specialties are a version of an Israeli salad that is cut up much more finely and with a lot more vegetables to the point that it is almost like salsa. Also a sliced tomato salad. I am proud some of the chicken recipes that have become part of my repatoire--especially the ones using ginger. For some reason, I mess up mostly with baking; perhaps because I cook so much by "feel" and baking seems to be more exact. I have left out ingredients like oil and have accidentally used soda instead of powder. Once or twice I forgot to turn on the timer. Well, you can imagine.