It was in 1993 that I decided that being a chef was a good idea.

I was working as a baker in a small donut shop and wanted to do something else, something more creative.

It was also the same year that the Food Network first made its appearance on television. In my early years, the Food Network made a huge impression on me as a cook because the shows that it featured then focused on actual cooking.

Emeril Lagasse was actually a really great chef before he became a cartoon of himself and a catch phrase.

One of my favorite hosts from that era of food network was a chef named David Rosengarten.

David hosted over 2500 episodes of Food Network in various show forms, my favorite being called Taste.

He also wrote some excellent books. One of which I still use frequently: The Dean and Deluca Cookbook. It's a great book with tons of recipes that actually work...