At the moment I am finishing my degree in Spanish and Cultural Studies at the university and somehow I seem to enjoy cooking and even cleaning up the kitchen afterwards a lot when I should be studying instead... But don't think I cook just because I need a change from studying for my exams. I started cooking when I was about six years old (the first things I could make were spaghetti with tomato sauce and German Marmorkuchen), I went to my first cooking lessons at age nine and when I was thirteen I cooked dinner for my family at least once a week to help my mother. So I have quite a lot of experience and I still enjoy cooking everyday. I love to try new things. I also love baking, but since my boyfriend doesn't like cakes nor pies and quiches, I don't do it very often. I really like experimenting and trying things on my own, inspired by recipes but not following them exactly. oh, there are many. My mum used to bake whole wheat easter buns with my brother and me and we always had a great time forming the dough into strange shapes. My dad enjoys cooking too and he usually prepared a special dinner on the weekend. And sometimes he played "restaurant" with my brother and me when we were little. He even wrote a menu we could choose from, giving fancy names to simple things such as "golden dew" for apple juice... I prepared some dishes for my mother's birthday brunch and got special thanks from her and her guests, that really made me proud. And the last time we spent with my future in-laws my boyfriend and me prepared a lasagna - it was the first thing I cooked that his parents actually tried and enjoyed. They are very conservative concerning food and never really liked my mediterranean-asian-and-mexican-inspired vegetarian cuisine... I don't really know. I have messed up a lot of things, I have burned many cakes and I tend to use too little salt. But I prefer to forget my cooking tragedies and concentrate on the next recipe I try...