A little background on my journey. Growing up in Tampa, there was a lack of culinary culture. Chain restaurants such as Applebee's, Olive Garden, and Red Lobster dotted the suburban landscape of my hometown. Not that my family ate out a lot - when we did, it was always a special occasion. Most of our meals were prepared by my parents - my dad would come home usually around 5:30pm and begin prep: dicing tomatoes, washing the green snow peas, slicing tomatoes and jalapenos, and marinating the steak in soy sauce, sugar, rice wine.