I have a love for cooking from my Grandmother. She was always making something delicious. I took my first professional cooking class when I was 19. It was a Chinese food course. The most important thing I learned was to make great Chinese food you need to buy quality ingredients. Becuase of my husband's job I live all over the world. I make it my mission to eat and cook the food of the local culture. Additionally, almost every destination I travel to I will try to fit in a Cooking course in that area, most recently I have taken courses in Thailand, Bali and Napa. I lean towards Asian and Italian. I love to make Tom Ka Gai for friends and family. My favorite Italian dish to make and eat is Penne Arribiatta. We lived in Sardegna for several years and they make the best Arribiatta there. Because my husband is in the service I live away from my family most of the time. So whenever we are home, San Francisco, we are in the kitchen making family favorites. Taco night one night, spaghetti the next. We never leave home wothout having a huge cook out. The perfect Thanksgiving. I am a perfectionist. Sad to say but when it came to feeding friends and family what I had cooked I would be afraid it wouldn't be perfect. I had to get over it. So I took on Thanksgiving. Everything was up to my standards. The Maple Glazed Turkey made the day. Of course there were lots of helping hands... It would not have been Thanksgiving without everyone in the kitchen. Sometimes I try and figure out a recipe for something I have eaten at a restaurant. My husband is always so sweet and says "Wow, that just like the ... we had at such and such place" It really doesn't always turn out so well