is an eclectic collection of recipes from around the world that have unique tastes, flavors, and textures. Recipes range from Carolina Pulled Pork to Thai Coconut Chicken. Stews, Chilis, Creole dishes, Cajun specialties, Mexican, Tex-Mex, and Barbecues have all found their way into this collection.

Recipes have been created, adapted, and modified from hundreds of sources - other chef's favorites, family recipes handed down from grandmother-to-mother, Internet cooks and others. "Food With an Attitude" is a collection of personal favorites and oft-requested recipes.

"Food With An Attitude" Philosophy

Cooking should be fun… it should be an adventure for the cook and for the palate. Boxed soups, canned stocks and dried herbs are convenient but not the key to tasty cooking. Fresh herbs, fresh spices, home-made stocks and sauces form the basis for good cooking whether for a formal sit-down dinner or a backyard cookout.

Good cooking need not be complicated or time-consuming. Try to spend one weekend morning in the kitchen dicing vegetables, preparing stock, and making sauces for the upcoming week. That way, after a long day at work, meal preparation is quicker and you'll enjoy a healthier and more tasteful dinner than one from some canned gravy and pre-packaged chicken.

Most of the recipes in this collection can be prepared in advance and stored in the refrigerator or freezer until ready for presentation.

Use "Food With An Attitude" to form your own favorites. Adapt the recipes to your taste buds and tolerance for heat - remember, you can always add more heat but it's nearly impossible to cool down a fire-breathing chili or jambalaya.

A word about bottled hot sauces: Several "Food With an Attitude" recipes call for using Tabasco^® sauce or similar Louisiana-style hot sauces. Hot sauces range in heat from mild to unbearable. Experiment with different sauces for different tastes and burn factors. Dave's Insanity Gourmet Hot Sauce^® is one of the hottest commercial products available. Endorphin Rush^® is another hotter-than-hot sauce. Tabasco, the granddaddy of hot sauces, is now in two varieties - original and green. The green sauce is made with Jalapeño peppers and is somewhat milder than the Tabasco pepper-based red sauce.

Several companies such as Mo Hotta - Mo Betta^® in San Luis Obispo, CA market hot sauces by mail order and many supermarkets are carrying a wide variety of bottled heat. Try them.

Unique spices and ingredients

Coconut milk, Lemongrass, Kaffir lime leaves, dried cloud ears... foreign words and tastes for most northern palates but pretty much readily available at major supermarkets and specialty stores throughout the area. If you can't find a particular ingredient, substitute. That's what makes cooking fun, experimentation.