@FishingDoc
I am a health professional who lives in Florida with my wife and three boys. My taste in foods and cuisines is quite broad and I appreciate both traditional and eclectic foods. Obvious influences include my own Ashkenazic Jewish background as well as my wife's Greek-Turkish Sephardic Jewish background, but I frequently enjoy so-called "Floribbean" cuisine" and forays into French, Italian, North African, Middle Eastern and Eastern cuisines. My middle son and I love to fish and in South Florida, the variety of fish available is unparalleled. God's bounty of food sustains us and restores us. Preparing foods provides us with a sense of connection to a place, a history or to a culture. Spending time in the kitchen or at the table with family allows us time to get away from the madness of our harried professional lives and provides a comforting and soothing time to reflect on ourselves and reconnect with those people and things that are most important and dear to us. I love to pick out microingredients in a recipe and stun people when I tell them I can taste it. Passions include cooking and the ethnology and history of food and the people behind it, family, music, contract bridge and fishing. Pet peeves include rushed meals, overcooked vegetables and the culture that places more emphasis on speed and numbers than on quality.