I watched my mother, sister and father (excellent cooks) cook all of the time, but and older sister actually put the pots and bowls in front of me and mentored me on how to do a lot of things in the kitchen.
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My mother and my oldest sister taught me to cook. I also learned a lot when I was on my own in college.
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My grandmother and great grandmother, both terrific cooks. I've even started a blog with the memories and special recipes they cooked. It helped me to deal with the passing of my grandmother earlier this year.
Source(s):
http://heartfeltrecipes.blogspot.com

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In my case, the art of cooking was self-taught. Mom did all the cooking when I was growing up and the kitchen was HER territory. She did attempt to give me a crash course in cooking the month before I married. Guess she felt sorry for my fiance!

Our first dinner I managed to catch the pan on fire. I was attempting to impress my new husband with fresh shelled peas. Who would think you had to add WATER to the peas? Thus, pan on fire!

After a few other "burnt beyond belief" dinners, I discovered Betty Crocker.

Cook books became my guide. I don't think my husband ever read a cook book but he seized every opportunity to buy one for me.
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We actually have a few cooks and a few Certified Chefs in our family so I was always around people like my mom, my grandma, my uncles and aunts, etc. They all cooked really great food! My mom in particular is known as one of the best Chefs in our family without a degree lol. My parents divorced when I was 9, I'm now 28 and my dad STILL talks about her cooking.... not in front of the new wife lol.

Shes multi- talented. Everything from entrees and soups, to desserts and apps. You name it, and she can probably cook it. So when it came time for me to pick what I wanted to do with MY life, I chose to become a Chef. I picked a Culinary School in my hometown, took all the classes and the test and the exams. I loved the cooking part, hated the math lol. Big surprise!

I graduated in 1999 and I went on to the Registry Resort in Naples, FL. Its actually called something else now. I had an awesome time, and I ended up doing that for about 11 years. Then I got into writing and the rest is history!

I still cook. Don't get me wrong. Cooking isn't something you can just stop doing once you are out of the business. Once you have that passion instilled inside of you, its always there. I just don't work in professional kitchens anymore.

Someday I would like to open up my own little Bistro or something like that. For now I'm just having fun running my own company.
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