Laurie J Decker

I'm a fifth generation (could go back farther, insufficient data) "sufferer" of what my friend calls "compulsive elaboration syndrome". I can't just make one dish to take to a food function, I have to make three or four! I can't just bring a box of donuts, I bring FOUR DOZEN in a wide variety of the premium flavors.

I was born in Hawaii and positively adore Polynesian cuisine. I never met a pig I didn't like (slow roasted until it fell off the bone, that is!)

My cooking heritage is German, Danish, Polish and Irish, but I am a huge fan of peasant cuisine the world over. Peasants only got the "dregs and leavings" of the upper classes, so they had to use more ingenuity to make things taste good. Consequently, most "peasant foods" taste far superior to anything their "betters" might have been eating that was swathed in rich sauces that frequently masked the true flavors of the ingredients.

I also lived in Iran for a time and, as a consequence, became a student of Persian food as well. I have a number of Persian "comfort food" recipes in my repertoire, and have been known to break them out at Now Ruz, the Persian New Year, to celebrate the return of Spring.