I'm of Indian origin and I'm in my early 20s. I've been passionately cooking for the last 6 years. I believe it essentially all began with my Food Science class back in school. My grandmom is a brilliant cook and so is my mom so perhaps I am genetically inclined towards cooking as well. I'm an engineer by profession, but I am also a self taught artist (I work with oils, acrylics, silk paints, batik paints to name a few), a singer, and a knitter. I love being able to find different ways of expressing myself and cooking, painting and singing give me the freedom to do exactly that! :) I love to cook and experiment with anything and everything. I love trying different cusines and I can never choose one to be my 'favourite-est' coz I LOVE them all! I love baking and am always looking for ways to make a 'baked' version of most dishes. I also love baking cakes, cookies and other sweet treats and decorating them. Apart from the sweet treats, I love making healthy food ... soups, salads, sides, snacks etc. :) My mom makes this Indian dish for Easter and Christmas which is essentially a lot like rice pancakes but there's yeast in the batter which gives it a lovely twist. These go with a variety of sides such as stews, and gravy dishes. The other tradition which has now been passed onto me is the Christmas platter. Making the items that go onto the platter is quite a 2 week event in itself in our house (complete with friends and family coming over to share the goodies and lend a helping hand). I love making cakes, cookies and candies and love giving them around and sharing them with everyone. Some of my friends think I should go into business ... I'm still considering the idea (!!) :D When my sister was younger, she used to be quite intolerant towards eggs. So the biggest challenge was in being able to maniplulate and alter recipes by substituting the egg and yet keeping the dish/dessert intact. I've never used egg substitutes but rather tried to use vegan alternatives such as starch based alternatives/ applesauce etc. depending on the recipe. Accomplishing this has been for me the biggest achievement because it opened a world of opportunities and varieties for my sister. What's even better is she is no longer intolerant towards egg. When I was 14 years old, I was tested on my egg omlette making and flipping abilities at my Food Science class in school. Needless to say initially I was so nervous I broke 2 eggs and spilt them on the counter instead of craking them into the bowl!The omlette was a huge giant one (atleast I thought so at that time) and my first attempt at flipping it truned out quite disastrous but luckily I was given a second chance to start over and this time I got it right! :D My most recent tragedy was my hurried attempt at making a torte which resulted in a very eggy base cake and a gooey meringue top. It tasted so obnoxious it had to be thrown away. The worst bit was I made this for my sister's birthday and I felt miserable and not being able to make her a lovely birthday cake (although I set that right with another cake I made the next day!)