Hello to everyone from Houston, Alaska!

[Strat50]

I joined about a week ago and really love this place. The warm and welcoming attitude I've seen here is so nice and refreshing. Kudos to all who make this site so good.

Being a chef by trade, I have learned a lot here and hope I can help anyone with things in my area(s) of expertise. Many food and culinary sites are pretentious, dogmatic, and exclusionary. That's too bad as most of the REAL innovative things culinary come from gifted amateurs, not the average pro. Why is this? A pro will say why, and a gifted amateur will say why not. That is why I like it here. And that is why this site is so nice.

[smarkley]

Hi Strat... welcome aboard!

[HC in SC]

Right on Strat! I suppose it the amateurs who are 'thinking outside the box' didn't know they were in a box, or sometimes they just threw together whatever they had on hand and it ends up being magical. Welcome from the Charleston, SC area!