Started in NYC, moved to Long Island as a teen, then recently bought a little motel in the Catskills. We have an ever expanding flower garden for the enjoyment of the guests, and a growing herb garden for my kitchen. While I love meat of all kinds - I'm an unabashed omnivore - I have been experimenting with more vegetable recipes, and learning to make healthy and satisfying meals without meat. I'm particularly partial to the spices of India and the middle east, and love to stir-fry as well. I had to invent them from scratch. My mom was a lousy cook - totally disinterested in flavor or texture. In self defense, as soon as I was tall enough to work at the stove I started learning to cook, and gradually took over most of the cooking duties. Hubby's mom, on the other hand was an excellent cook from whom I learned her secrets for his favorite meal - leg of lamb. He cooks too - makes a spectacular meat sauce and lemon-ginger chicken to die for. My specialties are chicken cacciatore and a skirt steak casserole of my own invention. The Thanksgiving dinner I cooked when I was 16 - mom was happy to let me take over, and even her dad, a combustible old grouch, congratulated me on an excellent meal. Turkey with all the fixings - the biggest meal I'd ever attempted :-) The chili I had to toss because I hadn't cooked the beans sufficiently before adding them to the rest of the ingredients, and they were somewhere between chewy and crunchy. In my defense I was suffering from a bad cold and wasn't on top of my game at the time and forgot to give them a good test.