Seductive Eye Candy...

Well, almost 6 years ago to the day, it was back then that I started this humble blog about food and cooking with a post labeled simply as Eye Candy. I had heard about blogs but wasn't quite sure what to think of them, other than it could be cool. Still, I didn't make any motion to get one going. I was actually working on a cookbook, or at least I would think. When that fell through, I was searching for an outlet for my creative intellectual property. It was about that time that I had met a female colleague; Dana Cree who I had been introduced to by a former employee. He mentioned that she wrote this blog(short for web log) called the Phat Duck(now only a memory) and that I shpould check it out...thanks Tyler! I linked in to the site and started scanning her writings about all that is food, her experiences, her take on life, philosophy, emotion, food and cooking and her perspective about what is and what should or shouldn't be. She is a great writer. A light went on...an epiphany if you will. I knew that this was something I needed to do. I love to write, I love to cook, I love to share my thoughts and philosophy on things, I love to express my views(think LEO) and I love to take photos of food and share them with any who will view them. So other than my strong love for my two boys and music, this was a no brainer. She was the one I credit who inspired me to get this thing started. Although I do not believe she still writes for any blog(later she co-penned tastingmenu.com), I know she loves to cook and perfect her pastry. Thank you Dana for your inspiration on this. My blog has morphed and changed along the way, and although not perfect or even one on the top of the blog world, I enjoy it. The writing style has altered as my thoughts have evolved, but hopefully more fine tuned with my experience as a chef, my maturity as a human and as a writer. I come from a family of writers and I think it is something ingrained in me, or as a possible reality... maybe not. Mostly, the blog tends to inherit small clips of photos added in to express how I am feeling in the kitchen and with that comes a few paragraphs about the food, the frame of mind I am in, the emotion, the environment, the music, the inspiration, the team etc. I try to bring in all that is around me into my inspiration of the post. I get inspired to write and cook in so many ways...so many you will just simply have to read back through the years and figure it out for yourself. Heavy metal music, great ingredients, good passionate people, the weather and season, our purveyors and providers of the ingredients, the pain and pleasure in which I am feeling...you get the picture. So...it is with this post that I give tribute to the start of the blog 6 years ago, Dana who inspired me to start it, my family, the wonderful people throughout my career who helped me craft what I was thinking in my head and get it onto the plate, the Seattle Weekly who gave me some recognition a while back as being one of the top blogs in seattle(reads humble), this awesome city I live in, the puget sound region where all my life and experience has developed, the place I work, the chefs and cooks around the world who help inspire me each and every day to continue to do what I do through their own writings and cooking, and for my late mother and father...each of whom as writers and parents, I hope would enjoy what I have written and more so... proud of what I have done with my life and the legacy I hope to leave behind. In good food and cooking...cuisinier