About me
Fortunately for me, I've called the San Francisco Bay Area home for almost 50 years. I have lived in small town Oklahoma, Washington, DC, Los Angeles, and Houston. I consider the Bay Area to be the perfect place for one who loves food. The opportunities for great dining are endless, it seems. Every conceivable type of ingredient (well, almost) can likely be obtained here.....and we have great kitchen/cookware stores which carry anything one might need.
I always loved food, eating, dining out, entertaining, etc. I started cooking using recipes from such books as the Joy of Cooking, The New York Times Cookbook, Betty Crocker books, and many of the paperback Sunset cookbooks. I still have all of these books. My first stab at 'gourmet' cooking came in the early 80's. It was about the time that "The Silver Palate Cookbook" came out, and I got interested in good cookware. Lots of time has passed since then, and I've become a much better cook but have not had lots of time to devote to it because of other obligations in life (e.g. WORK).
I like almost any kind of food, but I particularly and fond of 'comfort food' along with Italian, French, German, Mexican, Indian, Spanish, Chinese, Thai and other international cuisines. Food from the South of France and Tuscany are favorites.
I love almost everything about food......researching cookbooks, browsing food-related websites, creating menus, using my kitchen's "toys", the preparation and presentation of meals and enjoying all of this with friends and family. I do NOT enjoy cleaning up, though. :-)
Cooking Influences
My earliest memories of things related to food are the meals my Grandmother Rodgers prepared on their farm in Oklahoma. She was an incredible cook, and everything was homemade with fresh ingredients, much of which was grown on their farm. Even today, I long for her food. Unfortunately, she did not cook using recipes (as far as I know) and her 'recipes' are lost forever. I'm still trying to come up with a biscuit recipe that is anywhere near like hers! :-)
Since I've lived in several major world-class cities and have had considerable travel opportunities, my tastes have become much more diverse than when I was that little boy eating Grandma's home cooking.
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