Dulcie...

Dulcie,

I don't have a culinary degree, I'm a designer and have worked via the internet for 4 years. Actually, my other half does most of the cooking, when I met him I didn't even know how to hard boil an egg. I expanded his (midwestern) tastes to suit mine (seafoods/asian) and I have since become very interested in fine cooking from the aspects of the how's and why's as I am a logical thinker as opposed to the "just throw some in there" experimental way of cooking. I believe you have to have a foundation of how things are traditionally/classically made before venturing out to experiment. This is why I love one of my new Christmas gifts "The Best Recipe" by Cook's Illustrated. I still have yet to cook any "savory" dishes, I've enjoyed making food that is fantastically presented. I NEVER thought I would be interested in cooking. I used to eat soley for fuel. That's a far cry from becoming interested in homemade butter and filo dough from scratch (The latter of which I will likely never attempt).

It has helped to meet others who share similar interests whom we've had much fun entertaining and cooking. For 99% of my life I used to say, "I don't cook." Well, I still don't cook a great deal but I know the termonilogy and could speak and have spoken with chefs. Everyone has to eat, and food holds memories and emotions for each person. It's a fascinating world to get into.

As to responding to posts. I have always enjoy the challenge of researching information online. Most of my posts come from knowing where to look which takes time to discover. Once you do, you help others, stumble into places you didn't know exhisted, make new friends, and you learn a lot along the way.

So Dulcie, I hope this helps, if you have any more questions, I'd be happy to try to answer. Thanks for noticing.

cchiu