I am an unabashed foodie as well.   Cooking for the family largely fell to me as a teen when my Mum went back to work and my father who was retired disabled from law enforcement also went back to work in a new field. It amazed me how I could make things my mother said my Dad would never eat and he would eat them because I made them. he he- Daddy's little girl.

It was good experience and I picked up a lot both from women in the family and from cookbooks. When I went to college, I took a job as an apprentice cook to the head cook of a leading caterer in Albany NY. I still make some of his signature dishes such as Sesame fried (I do oven baked) chicken, Asian Cole Slaw, Onion tart, Crab and Cavier spread and others.

My husband is very good at making Japanese homestyle cooked meals. In adition, he's an adventurous eater so I can get away wit thrying just about anything and he'll eat it. I metnioned in another thread that sunday I made Peruvian chicken with plums. I had a box of plums (fruit of the month club from his boss) going to waste and figured I could peel them up and make dinner with them. What I have leftover I used to make a plum vinegarette which came out nicely. I had soooo much Chicken with plums that I brought some of the leftovers to my doctors office today for their lunch. My nurse there has been bugging me to bring in a dish from a recipe I had featured on AOL but I brought her this instead!

So, three cheers to this thread. Food is wonderful and good food is even better