A great woman once told me "cooking creativity comes from having lots of pots and pans".

I hope everyone is well, I just wanted to share something from my past. I remember the first set of kitchen pots and pans that I purchased, the brand was T-Fal.

I didn't know the brand from Adam, I just had to get something for my wife when we finally decided to move in together, now I'm a sucker for T-Fal.

Yep, I bought that first set when we got our first apartment, and she loved them. We've been married 24 years, but unfortunately, she passed in 2017. but here I am years later, and I still have 4 left from the set of 12.

Of course, I've gotten more since her passing. She always said "The more pots and pans you have, the more creative you can be".

Now let me enlighten you about my wife, she was a go-getter and studied nursing, but mid-way through she decided that wasn't for her, I told her "Babe you love to cook, why not do culinary school? So she did. and my wife ended up being a full-fledged pastry chef.

She studied at Cordon Blu in Chicago. Unfortunately, the school is permanently closed.

That school was buzzing when it first opened, and she was so excited when she received the acceptance letter. I wish the letter would've gotten there sooner, the day it came she read it and found out she was already a day late to get her uniform. "Chicago Mail gotta love it".

I will always remember that uniform, white top, black and white checkered pants, and an actual chef hat, I never thought in my lifetime that I would see someone or anyone wearing a chef hat. Then again it was the 90's anything was possible.

My cooking talents came from my mother, she taught all her children the basic skills needed for the real world.

She taught me the art of Spanish cooking, and I loved it, every day after school and football practice I would get home, and she would be cooking, and as she cooked she would explain what she was doing and why. My mom always said, "I'm teaching you how to cook, clean, and do laundry, just in case you meet a girl that can't do any of it". I laughed, but afterward thought about it, she wasn't kidding.

But alas at 19 years of age, I met my future wife, my mom was impressed "my girl" was already kitchen savvy, so my mom decided to teach her how to make Spanish food. "Mom can't let her baby go hungry now." My mom wasn't much for American food.

And that's pretty much my life in a nutshell.

I apologize I know that was lengthy I just needed to tell the story.

Thank you all.