29 yr old food lover, movie lover, art lover, outdoors lover, travel lover, music lover, family lover, dancing lover...ect ect ect... My nana, who is my 'other-mother', is dutch-russian, and my grandfather is from Spain .. they reside in Mexico for half of the year and my nana makes the most **amazing** european/spanish food .. my ex-husband's family was polish, they made great things too .. (perrogies..homemade sausage..ect).. my cooking influences came from my nana, and my mother, and my ex's family... I like world cuisine and ethnic food.. I love east indian food, mexican food, asian food...I love bold flavors and I love spicy anything... I also like to cook family favorites, things my kids, family, friends like. My Nana makes the most wonderful food in the world .. she is in her mid 70's and she still cooks family dinners for 20+ people, all by hand. her recipes and meals are legendary. We have family dinners often, and she cooks for days beforehand .. other than that, I am a mother myself, and I put effort into our mealtimes.. dinner is the most important one.. usually when the kids come home from school, I am already working on dinner. We all sit at the table, and we put on dinner music every night .. sometimes it's Miles Davis or Adele, sometimes it's classical or swing jazz, or sometimes it's Lady Gaga or top 40 (for the kids) .. we also light candles, every night... it's the perfect way to bring the family together and talk about the day over a great meal.. homemade samosa's with dough made by hand.. homemade perrogies... that was an all-day affair, I think it took 7 hours! I made 3 different kinds of filling and had to re-make more dough a few times...learned a 'good' way to make ribs... cooked my first turkey a few years ago... homemade bread (without a bread-maker)(lots of kneading! ..and patience) I haven't had anything too horrible turn out ... when I first started cooking when I was 15/16 I just did the usual over-cooking of the roast, or not enough seasoning thing .. I quickly learned that using quality fresh herbs/spices, and really knowing your temperture gauges and the proper heat to use (i.e. the stove control knob dosn't *always* have to be on 'high'), and you can't go wrong with whatever you make :)