here's a saying that the mother is one's first spiritual teacher, which in my case I think is true. But in terms of the culinary arts, my mom is my lifelong guru, hands down. I call her almost every time I cook, whether to get a tip on a sauce substitution, seek advice on the ever-present question, "It doesn't smell...is it still good?", or just to swap ideas on stuff we've been making lately.

My parents had a bakery when they were younger, and I definitely got some of those genes. But I take after my father in style, who is a precise and able baker. My mom, on the other hand, is a fantastically creative improviser. I follow recipes with an embarrassing amount of doggedness, but my mom never measures beyond a glom of this, a couple glugs of that - with plenty of substitutions and alterations to suit the dish or the mood.

Head on over to Dr. Sue's Kitchen to check her out - there are many gems on her site that have been family recipes since I was a little kid. My mom is da bomb.