Serious Eats - seriouseats.com

I didn't grow up in a home with gormet cooking, nor did I grow up in a metropolis with an abundance of delicious resaurants to choose from. Alas, I grew up in the western Sierra Nevada, in a small mountain town, with my Mom who was a single mother, and worked two jobs. Her busy schedule kept her from long stints in the kitchen and lead her straight to the quick and easy meals. Perhaps that is what sent me nose first into a pluthera of cook books. I will never forget my first encounter with "The Silver Palate," it was not only a spiritual awakening but it was when I first found out that not everything is cooked in a crock pot. After that I have been on what some would call a pilgrimage to learn, see, experience, and taste everything that involves food. This is where I have come across Anthony Bourdain, Ruth Riechel, and Jeffery Steingarten, and I have to say, that I have been truely inspired by Mr. Steingarten. I promise I am not sucking up, I don't even want to win, I just wanted to put in my two cents. His honesty and sincereity are inspiring, and who knows more about single ingredients than he? His writings have sent me into numerous amounts hunger fits. My newest food fantasy involves a long Steingarten tour of Eurpoe, stopping at all the restaurants and B&B's he speaks so highly of, and then to come home with a waist wider than my smile. His hours spent perfecting recipies in the kitchen shows exactly how dedicated he is to his job. He always leaves me wanting more, and that is, after all, the job of any food critic, restaurant, and/or chef.