Cooking is a passion for me. I reluctantly picked up some skills from my mom when she would force me to help her. My dad in his many rolls was a butcher, so a few times a year he would butcher a whole hog or half a cow, not to mention wild game. He taught me to make all sorts of sausage and cure meats. I hated those weekends, I would rather spend my time playing sandlot baseball with the neighbor kids. When I left home, I was eating out what I thought was great food, I thought I was tired of home cooking. I began cooking again for health reasons and now I can't stop. I took some professional baking classes a few years ago, mainly for yeast breads (trying to distance myself from preservatives). And now it's rare that I don't bake something from boule to herb focaccia, artisan breads, pizza dough and even pastas!
