A new cookbook! When I first came to the states years back I used to attend this private school in Santa monica and lived with a bunch of kids in a house from the same school. My piano teacher was a member of the school and I would go to her house for dinner every monday evening and have piano lesson afterwards and then stay over at one of their daughter's room, which was left vacant since they were older at the time and already moved out. She was an excellent cook and for a kid who was so used to eating only Chinese food, all these scallops and artichoke and pasta and her special salads were so amazing that I immediately fell head over heel with her cooking. I remember she had A LOT of cook books in her kitchen and countless spice jars and this book get used so frequently that the cover made an impression on me even though at the time I read very little English.

I can't wait to make some delicious dishes out of this book. Come to think of it, besides playing the piano, this was the teacher that inspired the love of cooking in me, otherwise I'd never pick up a spoon or turn on any stove!