I was fortunate to be partially raised by my great grandmother and spent a lot of time in the kitchen with her and a lot of time during the summer on the back porch shucking corn, stringing beans, pealing peaches, etc. That gave me a sense of seasonality and a taste for freshness along with an understanding of hard work. Also, I wound up hitching a ride to Mexico when I was 18 thinking it would be a two-week trip, and I ended up getting stuck for about 3 months. I was in a village with no running water, electricity, phone or a postal system. I spent most of the time with the Mamas and the children while the men went off into the mountains to work. I collected wood for fires, fed the pig, picked chilies and tried my best to be useful. I wound up eating a lot of simple beautiful food and have indelible memories of the smells and tastes of what was, at the time, a very exotic experience for me. When I finally made it home I enrolled in culinary school.

I am not sure that I have a defined philosophy. I believe in a firm foundation in classic cooking technique and then throwing it out the window and using a more intuitive approach respectfully treating the ingredients that are around us naturally that is symbiotically beneficial to the cook, the diner and most importantly the ingredients themselves.