My start was probably through my parents who were really gourmands. My mother had her Gourmet Magazines and they belonged to a Gourmet Club where people would take turns preparing gourmet meals, Veal Orloff, Salmon Couilbiac, Lobster Stuffed Filets, etc. We were forever going out to eat and my father loved going to Chinatown on Sunday mornings and getting fresh roasted duck, pork etc. Dim Sum on sundays, pizza and subs or deli on saturday nights etc. I used to imagine myself a short order cook and try to make myself a sandwich as fast as I could. Eventually I went into the family business of Electrical Engineering but realized that I wasn't really cut out for it, so I dropped everything went off to culinary school, lost my fiance but gained the knowledge of Grand Cuisine! In this case it was a "fair exchange" (thank you BeBop Deluxe for the line!)