My Culinary Heros!

This is my last day of total freedom. I start at 11:30 am on monday and I dont get done until 11pm! I was flipping thorugh the books i recieved and its all seems pretty interesting. Anyhow since i didn't officialy start yet, i though i might instead share with you some of my culinary heros. these people inspired me and i think inspired many people to love, appreciate and truly enjoy cooking as well as eating. Here they are, (in no particular order:

1. Julia Child- gotta love the high pitched voiced woman. She also went to the Le Cordon Bleu! so I am following her footsteps, sorta. She demystified french cooking with such a down to earth, friendly attiude. I also admire that she was a woman, in a profession dominated by men, she really shone and was never afraid to get her hands dirty. I love her quote, "I was 32 when I started cooking; up until then, I just ate."

2. Ruth Reichl: she was the food critic for top newspapers in the country and nowadays the editor in cheif for gourmet magazine. I am mostly a big fan of her books, "Garlic and Saphires" and "Comfort me with Apples". Being trained as an actress myself, this woman really inspired me that you could combine those two passions as she narrated in "Garlic and Saphires" about all her many disguises, alias, and personalities she "put on" as she reviewed resturants in New York.

3. Graham Kerr: He's a scottish (although lived most of his life in London) chef that had a really awesome show called "the Galloping Gourmet" in the 70's. Its such a delight to watch (they used to air it at like 2 am on food network but i haven't seen them do so recently, ahh well, theres always youtube). He was known for not skimping not wine and takes several swigs of it throughout his show (he actually ended up becoming an alcoholic, but he recovered thankfully and is still alive today).

4. My mom: She was also a Julia worshiper, its her collection of julia books that introduced me to high end cooking. She wasn't he best cook, but far from the worst. She had some winning dishes, a few flops (but dont we all), but she enjoyed food and relished new flavors and dishes. Once she go cancer, she tried to watch her diet and cut back on eating her ulitmate guilty pleasures, (Big Macs and chocolate). She was actually very funny in that way, she would make all sorts of healthy and tasty dishes and go to the gym regularly, but she had to get a weekly fix of these big macs i tell you. Anyhow, she knew how to appreciate good food and passed that influence down to me.

there they are, I might add more as I delve deeper into the culinary world.