I first learned to cook in a farmhouse kitchen. My two greatest passions are food and writing. The third happiest day of my life (after my wedding and the birth of my child) was the day we installed a 6 burner, 2 oven Viking range. I love French food, especially the simple, hearty food of Provence. I'm constantly questing for recipes that deliver a lot of flavor with minimal effort. Spending the whole day in the kitchen preparing a feast is a lot of fun but for every day I like to spend no more than 40 minutes, start to finish. We do a different cuisine (world or regional) every year for Christmas. Lamb for Carnevale, ham for Easter. Thai food for 14 out of a kitchen the size of a phone box. A recent "bistro feast" that involved the most glorious beef daube ever. There was an incident with a "Tuscan Beans" recipe that lives in infamy...soupy, flavorless. It gave rise to the family motto: "This is either going to be really good or it's really going to suck".