SteveB wrote:
>
> I have a friend in California who is a real chef. She's a dear, and a hard
> worker. They are retired now, and her kitchen is like on TV. Viking,
> Dacor, Wolf, you know. BUT THE WOMAN CAN COOK.
>
> Coming from a medical career, she also is very conscious of fats and
> cholesterol and everything else that tastes good, sometimes being annoying.
> We go visit them a couple of weeks a year, and it is like going to a resort.
> Playing golf, eating good on the hilltop patio, driving around in a Ferrari,
> Maserati, or Porsche.
>
> I come home and have this thing that I'm going to eat healthier, and learn
> to cook like her. Lots of her stuff is very simple, but tasty beyond
> description. Lots of it is Italian or European in nature, as they traveled
> there a lot.
>
> Are there some starter cookbooks and ways I can get headed in a new
> direction away from pork chops and fried potatoes and gravy? I do cook lots
> of more complicated stuff, but at times, I just have a mental block when
> thinking of what to prepare for dinner, and grab what's easy and I know.
>
> Maybe I'll ask for a particular cookbook this Christmas. Which one?
>
> Steve


Why not ask your friend if she has recommendations? Or ask her for some
simple recipes; any real chef would share recipes willingly.