It was the early 80’s, I was a single father to three little girls that I was responsible for feeding and I worked nights. I think that was when I bought my first cookbook ‘blahblahblah’ and started to really trying to cook tasteful and healthy meals for my family. My first dish I proudly called my own was beef stroganoff. I bragged about this meal that I so proudly put together to a buddy at work. He promptly went home and informed his wife that Ken at work feed his girls beef stroganoff ‘with real steak’ and not hamburger like she cooked. Her reply was a curt “if you don’t like my cooking have your buddy Ken feed ya.”

My girls are grown now and have families of their own to feed. And yes they still call with that magic question “dad how do I cook …” Over time I’ve been on again/off again with my cooking and lately have been trying to master grill cooking. Nancy and I cook a mean vegetable combo on the grill.

 I have brought together some of my favorite recipes, which I like and are the most requested and published them on this website. My number one request recipe is for my stir fry and it is also the hardest to describe in print. There is no real measuring and no one vegetable combination. Mainly Nancy and I dig through the frig and pull leftovers/half batches of broccoli, carrots and whatever (“hey hon, I got some leftover squash, should we throw it in?”). I always try to have onions, garlic, soy sauce and oyster sauce on hand at all times. And because Nancy bakes we almost always have cornstarch and because I drink white wine we can throw together a nifty little sauce/gravy. The prep work is the secret to good stir fry. If you get into a regular habit of prepping your meat and veggies the same way every time you’re bound to succeed.

My cooking mentors are (in no particular order): Alton Brown, Martha Stewart, Julia Child, Shirley O. Corriher, my mom and dad, and tidbits I picked up from Grandparents and Aunts. Thanks to these people I’ve learned about cooking and ink/water balance in offset printing.

So as one of my fav’s say,

“Bon Appétit!!”