re: At what age did you start cooking/getting involved with food?

Being 1/2 Italian I grew up watching Mom and Maw Maw cook. It always fascinated me and it always tasted great. They would let me stir, hand them ingredients and such starting when i was like 6 or 7. But i became serious about cooking when I was about 22. At that time I was working for a food distributor and would sell/talk to chefs as they were prepping cooking. Sal Impostata, Sal and Judys, liked me allot and I could waste 2-3 hours watching him prep and cook. That's where I learned how simple the techniques really are. watching chefs cook at places like Mortons in Madisonville, Jacmle Inn, Nuvolari's, Trey Yuen, Murphy's Don's and the like. Most of the guys were young like myself and we would party together and wound up learning much from them. Today, I consider myself an above average cook over many styles. I take great pleasure watching friends/family enjoy my food.