[Papa]

Dear Svadhisthana:

What a wonderful topic!

For me it was my great aunt Ypatia. She was the Chef at the family owned restaurant that was named after her. It was a lovely place on the coast of Kavouri, near Athens, and it was a regular getaway for the Greek Royal family.

I was fascinated with Ypatia's life story when I was growing up. She had become kind of a symbol for me long before I got interested in her cooking.

Ypatia was married at the age of sixteen to an cavalry officer who was very abusive to her. One day, her husband hit Ypatia in public, and another young cavalry officer, who was secretly in love with her but he had never expressed his feelings to Ypatia, called her husband to a dual to reinstate Ypatia's honor. Their swords crossed early in the morning the next day and Ypatia's husband died. The yound officer who had defended her honor, asked Ypatia to marry him. Their love story continued strong until their death. Ypatia died at the age of 86 and her husband died three days later of his sorrow.

Listening to these stories as a kid, I had already idealized my great aunt. When I started working at her restaurant at the age of thirteen, I learned a lot from her about cooking and about life in general.

[Pastachef]

I believe my interest in cooking was the inspiration I received from my Italian father. He was always cooking when he wasn't working. The house always smelled so wonderful with his various pastas and sauces and stews. In the worst of circumstances, my world smelled of love and effort and pride. While the food was cooking he would have my brothers and sisters and me, (there are six of us), sit on the floor by his organ and play musical backgrounds to the many stories he made up while the food was cooking. I got into cooking a couple of years before he died. We had such a good time as I tried to equal or 'best' him Papa's story telling reminds me so much of home. You could title your book, 'Papa's Hearth', Papa Oh, and we always had a fireplace. Who doesn't love a fireplace? Such memories. I have to laugh about the way my dad made up his 'Garbage Stew' from the week's leftovers. We kids named it that because we hated vegetables

[Shimmer]

I don't know where it came from. I've loved to cook since I was very young. After I started making pies, my Mom would sigh and say, "Looks like you got your Grandma's genes!" To her, cooking ability is inherited and somehow it skipped her.

I guess my family was always about food, so the love of food came before the ability to make it.

Right now, my mentors are all of you who patiently answer my questions, the people who have written wonderful cooking books, and the chef I work for who always takes time to teach me something new. I hope I always have mentors! We can always learn from each other, right?

I think curiosity is the best mentor. That one has always led me to learn the most!

~~Shimmer~~

[Georgeair]

I've always attributed my interest and inspiration to a combination of adolescence (most guys and parents of teenage boys know exactly what I'm talking about....) and a working mom - I came home from school starving starting at about 11 years old and quickly tired of turning $.99 frozen pizzas into $10 masterpieces by piling on everything I could find in the fridge. Moved on to baking and making omelets, pasta, etc. and have been branching out since then. Out of my parents and three sisters I'm the only food nut, so this one must not be heredity!

[Svadhisthana]

I think curiosity is the best mentor

How true Shimmer.