I'm an engineer by trade, which made it difficult at first for me to accept the fact that sometimes you need to play around with recipes and the amounts. As I'm learning to do so, however, I am finding a whole new wonderful world of cooking. Outside of cooking, I enjoy salsa dancing and playing soccer, which makes it that much more important for me to cook and eat healthy. I love baking cookies and making crepes and stir fry. I am starting to get more comfortable with casseroles. I used to be completely attached to my frying pan, but have within the past 5 years or so moved more towards baking. As a kid when we had guests over I used to be in charge of the desserts (or at least my mother made me feel like I was in charge; that was the only aspect I was really interested in helping with). I learned a lot about baking through these endeavors and enjoy it to this day. Quaker's oatmeal chocolate chip cookies (the recipe actually calls for raisins, but we substitute chocolate chips) were always available in my house and those are my favorite to make (thank goodness my boyfriend likes them too). My mother also makes a mean brisket, which is something I have yet to replicate. And finally, crepes on weekend mornings, with honey or maple syrup, although not as common now that I'm on my own, still my favorite. Sending oatmeal chocolate chip cookies to my boyfriend - and having him rave over them. Quiches and zucchini egg bake for a breakfast at work - and having them be gone within the first few minutes of the day. The brisket for Passover that burned and dried. Burnt garlic bread. The tasteless pasta dish. Did I mention that all of the above involved guests?