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Just curious, how proficient are you Cystians at cooking? Are you a master chef in the kitchen, or does everything you touch combust into flames and then charcoal?

Also,  some bonus questions of sorts. 

1) What age were you when you started cooking or making your own meals?

2) What's the most elaborate thing that you can make?

3) How did you learn to cook, or who taught you how to cook?

Well in regards to myself, I was nine and in grade school when my grandmother taught me how to cook. It's useful when you have to watch your little cousins or relatives and they get fussy. I can also make things like tarts, but I learned that from cookbooks when I was younger. But now there's the internet, although I still do prefer the old ways of trial and error than watching some meticulous tutorial. 

So in short, I'm proficient enough that I now only knick myself with knives sometimes rather than all the time xD But enough about me, what about the rest of you?

I'm good in the kitchen, but can't make toast without almost burning my fingertips off :P

1) 13

2) Chocolate Soufflé

3) I learned how to cook when I bought a book full of recipes and cooking stuff for no reason other then the fact that I was very, very bored that day and had nothing else to do.

Proficient, between intermediate and advanced: I'll tailor recipes to my instincts but I won't be creating my own recipes anytime soon.

After postgrad

Pretty complex Indian dishes, I probably run an average of 10 ingredients in any given dish and never make 'plain' rice. Been meaning to get into Mediterranean cuisine but never really committed. Same with desserts, been meaning to get into those as well.

Got recipes from home and got feedback based on how they looked in pictures, alongwith taste sampling amongst friends.

Can you make chocolate soufflé?

Falls under desserts, so haven't tried.

E: Recipe looks fairly simple, I don't have an oven though.

"Proficient, between intermediate and advanced"

StrykerL, a lot of the things you say sound like the difficulty descriptions on different characters in a beat-em-up.

Indian food is great, though. Live for dat tikki masala and kofta.

Yeah, I've easily played over 5,000 games in my life till now (started when I was 5 when we got a home PC), and with game-dev being my line of work, the terminology creeps into my conversations (IRL as well).

Indian food is fantastic, especially for vegetarians as there's a ton of variety. The best part is that across India there's a different basket of foods, and many of them are fantastic (I've travelled the sub-continent a fair deal, so this is first-hand reporting). My personal preference is roughly North Indian > South Indian > West/Central Indian > North East Indian, with exceptions across the board. Additionally, food is mind-bogglingly cheap in many parts (due to the need to keep it affordable for a huge population base). In south India, you can get a seven-item meal with unlimited refills for between $1 to $4, it's insanely good.

As for myself, I haven't made kofta yet, it's more of a high-level dish to make and requires more prep time than most of my other dishes, which take about an hour/hour and half and which can feed one person for four days (8 meals).

I can make sushi, though not much else. I guess my parents taught me, and I started when I was 8 or so.

I've been cooking ever since I can remember. When I was a little kid and there was food in the house, which really wasn't that often, it would be my job to make something edible out of it. Then when I was around seven, I moved in with my grandma and she taught me how to cook like a civilized person. She is an incredible cook and I'm still pretty far below her, but I'm sure working to get there. 

I can and have cooked pretty much anything that any amateur chef could. The most complex thing I can make are macarons. Yeah, I know what you're thinking, "those are just cookies and cookies are the easiest thing to make save top ramen, how is that hard?" I have no comeback for that, other than to say they are the touchiest little things ever. One little mistake and the whole batch is ruined. The worst part about macarons is they take forever to make, years to perfect, incredible attention to detail, and they don't even taste that good. That's my opinion at least. So why do I make them if they suck so much? They're my grandma's favorite and I'm a sucker for sucking up to people.

1) I believe I made my first meal (under the careful watch of my Step-Grandmother) at the age of 7 or 8. I had made a very easy version of a "Beef Teriyaki" dish. Just a mixture of vegetables and meat cooked in a wok with a sauce made from teriyaki sauce, sake, and some other stuff, placed on top of some Japanese sticky rice. Yum!

2) I mostly specialise in desserts and baked goods so I guess the "most elaborate" things I can make are macarons (but they're HELL to make), eclairs, and some cakes decorated very elaborately (with buttercream frosting of course). I can also make some pretty good mochi. As for cooked dishes, I can make Zoni, although it isn't really all that elaborate.....is Paprikás Csirke? (Probably not.....It's pretty much a stewy kind of thing....)

3) Growing up with my Grandparents, I obviously learned from them. My Step-Grandmother is Japanese, so I learned how to make a lot of traditional Japanese dishes from her side of the family. My Grandfather has deep European roots, so I learned to make various European dishes such as Paprikás Csirke, and Beef Stroganov. I have a wide range of recipes from various different cultures mainly due to how diverse the area I live in is, and because of the friends I have made (and their parents) who I have also learned from. I have taken lessons at a local bakery before to enhance my baking skills last year and hopefully, over the summer, they will offer more courses.

Although I'm no master chef, it is certainly something that I can see myself striving to be once I figure out what I truly want to do in the future. I'm just going to keep learning from others and try my hand at some other non-dessert things.

1) Maybe like 13 or 14. Early teens.

2) If I had the time and instructions, I could make a bunch of freakin' baguettes. However, baguettes in specifics are a fairly recent thing for me, so I'm not very good, nor am I able to do it without making sure I'm doing stuff in the right order. Something elaborate that I can make without consulting the recipe every few seconds would be Ravioli.

3) Mom and dad taught me how to cook when they were tired of me taking up the stove boiling ramen all the time when I came back from school. Then I took up the counter wondering what different saucy things I could put in sandwiches if the bread was waffles instead of flat slices that leak. Amatuerish as it is, I wholeheartedly suggest you try pulled chicken, or pork, or noodles, saturate them in your favorite mildly thick soup, and then put them on waffles.

1. I think probably late teens. I remember when I moved into a house with a kitchen in college I had trouble cooking only for one because I was used cooking for more. I was 20 when I moved into that house. I don't remember what year I started cooking but I remember why. My brother, who's two years old but apparently still a child, would come home from college or work and then beg me to make him food because he couldn't. He was too tired. -.- 

But the way my brother now lives on his own and...and I still think he doesn't know how to cook for himself. He only eats microwavable food and fast food. Boy is going to die of a heart attack before he turns 27!

2. I guess maybe fudge (does baking count?) My homemade fudge certainly takes more time and effort than anything I make. I have this specialty that I only make for Christmas that's mixed with Bailey's.

3. My dad's the good cook in the family, but he doesn't do it often. He thinks fast food or going to restaurants is more convenient (he literally just walked into the house with takeout pizza). When he did cook, though, he'd take the time to try to explain why he was doing certain things with the food. My mom, on the other hand, is a terrible cook. I still live with my parents and I've actually banned her from cooking. So basically I try to remember what dad taught me, block out everything my mother has ever said regarding food and also I follow recipe direction and listen to my taste buds. 

1. I was ten when I started making things more intricate than sticking stuff in the microwave or sandwiches. I had to become good at not burning crap when I abruptly was the oldest individual in the house for 10 hrs + through the week. I was seven when I was learning how to make cookies and cake from my mother. (I can make a wide variety of desserts that I normally don't make.) 

2. I'm super lazy and don't have enough patience to waste my time on taste buds. I suppose it would be tacos. (About seven things in the spices for the meat, cutting lettuce, cooking meat, et cetera. Nothing very intricate.) Most the time, it's ramen noodles or scramble egg+toast sandwiches since that stuff's fast.

3. I learned from my parents (mostly my mom) and reading recipes (mostly my mom's).

I'm okay at cooking
1) I was about 5 when I started making my own sandwiches and such, and when I was 9 I started cooking on the stove
2) Sushi ;D
3) Mostly myself and my dad, My grandma has helped too. My mmom only makes lentils and rice and such, So I don't know how I have survived.

I have only cut my finger a few times, I am getting better; My best is baking, I can make most basic desserts without viewing any recipes. Yet I have been the cause of a few almost fires.

Interesting, I also like Sushi but unlike you I don't think I've tried making it yet.