When I was younger, I always loved the kitchen. I remember at the age of seventeen, I was the head cook on a boat, and at the age of eighteen, I was the head cook at a small twenty-five-seated restaurant-something I still find fascinating today. I can't believe how young I was with such responsibilities but I made it. As I've noted in my first cookbook, Hosting the Holidays, to this day, I don't know why I managed to get my experiences in Europe and...