While I'm not an actual rebbetzin, I freelance as a kosher personal chef, specializing in Indian and Persian cuisine. I'm into experimentation, and exotic ingredients - I've never met a chili pepper or a mango I didn't like. Italian is my all-time favourite. Although it's time consuming and makes my clothes smell for days, I love making Indian food. I also love traditional Jewish foods: challah, chicken soup and chollent, though I always add my own spin. My father is legendary for his biryani, and I grew up as his in-home apprentice. My mother can also hold her own in the kitchen, and taught me the delicate art of Persian cooking. My mother-in-law is a brilliant self-taught cook as well. A 60-person Indian Shabbat dinner which I (along with a few helpers) cooked in a teeny-tiny kitchen in the basement of a synagogue (it was the size of a closet), which had a gas oven that must've been 50 years old. It took us half an hour just to light the oven (with a MATCH!!), and I had to improvise the main dish on the spot. The result was fantastic, though - everyone raved. My very first attempt at cooking, at the age of twelve: After watching a cooking show on t.v. (I won't say which one), I decided to try the chef's recipe for pasta with liver and wine sauce. It was as horrible as it sounds. My family ordered pizza that night, and I wasn't allowed in the kitchen for a long time. And the other day, I nearly burned down the kitchen when my shepherd's pie caught fire in the oven. I suppose that was also my first flambé.