Hello from N. California!

Hello everyone, looking forward to meeting all of you digitally and reading your words of wisdom and hopefully your encouragement as well. I am an avid foodie and enjoy trying new things in the culinary world and am vary fortunate to live in an area where there is an abundance of world class restaurants, organic farms and farmers markets, breathtaking vineyards and wine, artisan cheese manufactures and superb micro breweries. I am currently in the final throughs of my first career and quickly heading for retirement from more than twenty-one years in the military. With great encouragement and support from my beautiful wife and son, I will be starting culinary school at the Culinary Institute of America, Gray Stone, Napa Valley this winter. It has been a life long dream to be a chef and to work in Napa or the Bay area and someday open my own restaurant and pass it on to my son if he chooses to follow in my footsteps. Many chefs have driven my passion for great food and wine over the years, Jacques Pépin, Thomas Keller, Michael Chiarello, Francois Kwaku-Dongo are just a small sample of my inspirations and chefs I have great respect for. I must say that I do not watch Food Network or the Cooking Channel, I just don't like what it has become, it's no longer an inspiration or an example for inspiring chefs and families to learn from, it's become a reality show battle ground that brings out the worst in people. I look forward to hearing from you all and I hope some of you will offer up some does and don'ts and help guide me through this new chapter in my life.

Thanks

Aloha, and thank you vary much.

I am in the Air Force and for many many years I was an F-16 crew chief right there at Luke AFB AZ and currently I am a jet engine mechanic at Travis AFB California altho I don't get to work on engines any more, I'm too far up the food chain in supervision. I have my retirement papers in and just waiting the process out and for the VA to catch up with me. There is one thing that I have learned in all my travels, and that is not to under estimate anyone, there is always something to learn from everyone including the home chefs. A few years back my wife and I took a culinary trip through Italy, we stayed mostly at working farms, some of the best food I have ever eaten came from the hands of the home cooks and I learned more about cooking in those two weeks than I ever have. My wife and I have a condo on the South shore in Kauai, Poipu, within walking distance from Roy's and one of my favorite weaknesses, Puka Dog, would love to make it my permanent residence someday but my wife has got a long way before she can retire. I have been reading a lot of the articles on here and have found many of them to be vary helpful.

Thanks again for the warm welcome, I look forward meeting some new friends that share the same passion that I do.