My Dad didn't know what a spatula from a strainer when I was growing up but it's funny now, that they're both retired, because Mom no longer cooks much at all. It's Dad who makes the meals - proof, I guess, of the old saw that you can teach an old dog new tricks!

Mom cultivated my natural curiosity and involved me in her cooking beginning at age 5. It was mainly "regular" food like bacon and eggs, casseroles, steaks and roasts (LOTS of these) - that kind of thing. But my absolute fave was her lasagna, and I made my first pan of lasagna at age 7 -a proud moment. That lasagna recipe, BTW, helped seal the deal while wooing Mrs. Davooda, or so she says

The confidence I had in the kitchen led me to apply for a cook's job at a guest ranch in Colorado for two summers while in college. As the breakfast cook for 120 guests and 40 staff each day, I learned a LOT about how to handle eggs, batters and baking bacon in the oven - never had seen that one before - AND teamwork. Sometimes, to impress the young Davooda men, I will crack four eggs at a time into two small frying pans and flip them w/o breaking the yolks. It's my hope that I'm cultivating their interest in pursuing something I genuinely love to do.

What a great topic!

Davooda

Both of my parents cook, and growing up, the dinner responsibilities largely fell to whoever was around during dinner time (which in our household was an early 4 p.m.; we'd also have a light reprise of breakfast at about 8 p.m., cereal/milk that sort of thing.) My parents were shift workers, and for awhile their schedules moved around, so whoever was around at the right time would cook. Mom pretty much always cooked traditional Polish food. Occasionally, she would stray with some Americanized cheesecake recipes, but, for the most part, it was nothing but Polish. Wednesdays, "Aunt Dolly" would come around and make homemade pierogi. I wish I had gotten her dough recipe before she passed away. I know it was pretty straightforward, but I could never get my dough as delicate, yet remain structurally sound.

Dad would watch the Frugal Gourmet, the Cajun Chef, and whatever other cooking programs were around at the time. He would also fill in the blanks with convenience American fare (like mac & cheese with canned tuna and green peas, or, one of my favorite, a clam chowder consisting of cans of Campbell's clam chowder, cream of celery, cream of potato, can of corn, some onions and celery fried in bacon fat, etc.) While he would make Polish food from time to time, he was a little more broad in his culinary range, although it wouldn't stray far from European or American cuisines. He also is the great experimenter, combining food items with no apparent rhyme, reason, or forethought. Sometimes his creations worked; often times, not.

So I had these complementary forces of tradition and experimentation growing up, although I didn't cook anything but desserts until college (and now I only very rarely whip up dessert.) I only really started learning and understanding cooking my last year of college, after I spent a couple months working as a kitchen porter in a fancy kitchen in Scotland (Aird's Hotel), as well as sampling food along my trips through Europe, coming to the conclusion that I had forgotten what food is really supposed to taste like. That was really my "breakthrough" point. I hit my stride, though, in my early 20s, when I pretty much always had to cook for myself (couldn't afford eating out regularly) and I had access to great markets in Budapest, which taught me to shop in season and where, in an atmosphere of competing vendors, I really could seek out the "best" ingredients. And how I do miss those markets! To this day, I only shop for 2 or 3 days at a time, and generally make my decisions on what to cook based on how ingredients looks at wherever I happen to be shopping.