So how does a kid from the Back of The Yards neighborhood in Chicago go on a television show, more so, a television show about cooking? It’s simple really, I have a huge passion for food, that’s it. Growing up I didn’t like school. That sounds funny from a person who worked so hard to get his education, but really I hated school. I hated listening to adults, I hated sitting still, I hated the whole idea of it. I didn’t like the confinement of the classroom. I have and always will be a person who stares. I would constantly stare out of our windows. I wanted to be out there with my hands in the dirt, creating something, feeling and almost fumbling my way through life. So what does that have to do with food? Well it’s easy, I used to skip school a lot. We aren’t talking about high school either. I mean I missed school a lot way back in fourth grade, fifth grade, and sixth grade. I would find any excuse to stay home.  My stomach hurts, I have a headache, I can’t concentrate, my leprechaun died, our dog is missing, just anything to get out of school. I would miss school and watch WTTW. For those of you that grew up in Chicago in the 80’s you know about WTTW it is a Chicago public broadcast station. Funny thing about WTTW after the kids educational programming, but before the BBC news hour at 3:00 pm there were nothing but cooking shows. It was great. I would stay home watch Jeff Smith, Graham Kerr, Julia Child, Jacques Pepin, Ming Tsai, Martin Yan and the like cook. I admired the way they moved I wanted to emulate what they were doing so I started cooking. Fast forward some years and here I am. Coming off of an amazing experience and hoping to share my feelings about food, my recipes, and my inner workings with our From Fire To Table family. You will hear me say we a lot, and I mean it.