I have worked in the front of the house for country clubs and restaurants for years. Learning menu's started getting my interest in food and what you can do with it to make it better for you and diversify the pallet. I like the term, "Food cooks you, you dont cook food." Living in Southern California we are lucky to have great produce year round. Chino's farms in the Rancho Santa Fe Valley, I must say is my favorite produce stand that is open daily. Chili and soups. It is the easiest for me and as well the most educational. You can play around with flavors and cook it all day if you want. Open a bottle of wine, and experiment in the kitchen. Then its easy to package up and give to the homeless around town if you wish.. or try and eat it all (between my roomate and I, we have never been able to finish it before it goes bad). This past Thanksgiving I used all recipes from the website, except for the deep fried turkey, (which of course didnt turn out how I hoped.. but still good.. just a little dry). My brother brought some friends down from LA who's families were else where in the country and we had a feast! I am looking forward to Christmas and the meals leading up to it with my Grandparents in town. THANKSGIVING 2007!! 8 courses, my mom helped keep the kitchen clean and organized, but I prepped, cooked, garnished, and served everything single handed. I was shocked... and warn out! I tried cooking Chicken Tikka Masala, I had a few glasses of wine before though. I got lost with the different dishes, I added cream corn on accident and WAY too much salt. It was uneatable to my standards. My parents were too kind to agree.. they ate it with hard swallows and lots of water.