Don’t GET ME WRONG, I love the restaurant business. Never having a Friday or Saturday night off, always working when the rest of the world is just getting off work, being busiest during the holidays has never bothered me for some reason. I just loved to cook for other people. I want readers to get a feel for the joys of making really good food at the professional level.

To understand what it feels like to attain the dream of running your own kitchen — what it feels like amidst the clatter and chaos of a restaurant kitchen. I want to convey, as best I can, the strange delights of the language, sense of camaraderie and sense of humor found on the line. I'd like anyone who reads this to get a sense at least, that in spite of everything else, it can be fun.

I want you to see someone who loves food, not just the life of the cook. Someone to show you how to cook for yourselves, for the pure pleasure of eating, not just for the hordes of tourists who flock to Belize every winter.