I have helped my parents cook since I was very young. The first dish I learned to do by myself was French Toast when I was nine years old. I added much to my skills during a short stint as the salad chef in the Chief Petty Officers Mess onboard a carrier when I was in the Navy. My cooking heritage includes Finnish cooking from my mother and German influences from my father but there is also a bit of Filipino cooking I learned from the Sous Chef during my days in a Navy galley. Meat! Vegetables and bread have their place in support of the main event, I suppose, but meat is the thing. I'm the sort of cook who is likely to add lard, salt pork, bacon, broth or stock to a vegetarian dish to make it taste right. I call my personal cooking style Finnish fusion cooking. Although looked down on by the French, Finnish cooking is rich in the use of strong flavored root vegetables, especially rutabaga, to make up for a sparing use spices. Cardamom and allspice are about all you need for traditional Finnish cooking. The former is for the traditional Finnish challah type cardamom braid bread. I also keep a supply of dried allspice berries on hand for use in soups, especially whole yellow pea soup, an old family recipe, and to put in the pepper mill I dedicated to grinding them for ground meat and egg dishes. I add sweet and sour flavors and seasonings from German and Filipino cookery to make a rather unique and I hope tasty style of cooking. I initially thought my biggest triumph was going to be a tragedy. I was cooking a pot roast on a stormy day (low barometric pressure, which causes things to boil dry easily) when my daughter cut her face. By the time I got back to the roast, the braising liquid had almost totally dryed out and was very dark brown. Fortunately, I added some water and carried on. That was the first of the many gravies I have made that are their own food group. The secret to good gravy IMHO is to risk burning it. No risk, no gain. See My cooking triumphs. I've been very lucky and have pulled a few things into the edible range with the judicious use of potatoes, vinegar and sugar.