@Weber Guy
Retired from the Navy in '97. Living in the Sandhills of North Carolina amidst golf courses and horse farms. Lived on the southern end of the Chesapeake and working for the Navy as a civilian in news media and public relations. Dog is a Chocolate Lab until late 2006. Married nearly twenty years. Teen-aged son is becoming a discerning cook. Grew up in the Great Lakes region in the 60's & 70's where my dining experience was maily meat and potatoes with little imagination. Joining the Navy and being thrust first into the cuisine of the American South, then exposed to the exotic foods of the Pacific Rim nations was a great benefit of serving Uncle Sam. Stationed in outback of Australia on the Indian Ocean introduced me to wonderful seafood. A three-year posting to Italy taught me what good pasta, sausages and cheese is all about (and fresh mozzarella, who knew?). A stateside tour in California found me with an avocado tree, orange, grapefruit and plum trees in my yard. Weekend trips into Mexico showed me the glory of fresh tortillas, peppers, grilled meats, cold cerveza and fish tacos! A civilian stint as a news director in Wyoming introduced me to the joys of farmed-raised vegetables, fish from cold mountain streams and good beef and wild game. Living on the Chesapeake landed me smack-dab in th middle of Blue Crab country. Now I'm rediscovering suthun' cookin' and serious North Carolina Q. My favorite conventional cookbook is a tattered and grease-spattered Doubleday cookbook printed in the '70s. I bought it in San Diego when I moved off the ship and into an apartment overlooking Shelter Island. The front cover is missing and the back cover is scorched from sitting on a hot burner. Also have three Frugal Gourmet cookbooks that I bought when I worked in Chicago in the mid-eighties. His TV show introduced me to a world of simple, international cooking that meshed well with my own gastonomical adventures around the world with the Navy. Favorite cookbook of the new millenium has to be the internet. "Googling" dinner is a