My greatest influence is my mother. She worked full time, raised 4 kids and a husband and cooked a home meal every day (including week-ends)She and her sisters are very well known for their cooking (the famous Ithier sisters). Several cousins had follow the tradition and now own restaurants back home. My favorite things to cook are desserts. I also love to find great recipes with 5 ingredients or less. I'm married to an Iranian, who is a great cook. My kids favorite foods is anything Baba (dad) makes. So for Christmas we usually have Irainian food instead of the traditional Christmas Dinner. My 15 min of fame came when they published my favorite chocolate cake in the Houston newspaper. My married last name is very unusual so I had a lot of friends calling me, when they saw my name in the paper In my first job, I made the Thanksgiving Turkey for the Company Party. I was so proud it tasted so good. When we started carving we found the bag with the neck, heart and kidneys inside!!!!