I was born in south central Louisiana and lived there most of my life. We owned a camp down on the bayou where i spent many of weekends and summer vacations. I believed being exposed to so much fresh seafood and southern cooking from my father and grandmother had a huge impact on my interest in cooking. My father actually taught me how to boil rice and make a roux at a very young age, well before i had any interest in using it. However, when i moved away from home, i so craved my parents cooking i got in there made my roux added some chicken and rice and it came out pretty good. I got a River Roads cookbook for christmas and i was on my way. My red beans and rice (which i posted but hasn't been approved yet) and pasta with sausage meat sauce are probably my favorite things to cook and are in my rotation often. I guess from me it's boiled crawfish during easter and fried turkey on thanksgiving. Its funny how the fried turkey craze has swept the country and we were taught by an old cajun man in about 1980 or so. Me and my father used to swap recipes. Probably frying my first turkey for a huge thanksgiving gathering and everyone raving about it. Grabbing the cinnamon instead of cayanne and putting it into my spagetti sauce. This simple mistake totally changed the way i cook my sauce. The cinammon took the acidity out of the tomatoes. After cooking a pot roast for my dad he commented that he liked mine better than his. Coming from someone that was as proud of his own cooking as he was, thats probably the compliment that has meant the most to me. I always try new recipes out on my own first. And i've laid plenty of eggs trying different things. My baking still need alot of work. i still can't get my pecan pies of jell properly. I've burned plenty of rouxs along the way as well.