Being an only child with no close family 'cause my dad died the moment I was born when his plane crashed & mom was a jet-setter who favored absentee-ism, I was blessed with a spiritually functional home. Now, I guess I could have been branded as a "Latch Key Kid", but by not hearing it was a negative, I lived it as a positive.

Mom never cared about what went on in our NYC apartment, so I used that as a freedom "Key" to open up the Gateway into my Creativity.

When I was 7, I began cheerleading myself to sketch, paint, design & sew my own clothes, make my own doll houses & furniture, play piano "by ear" (ouch!), et cetera .... & most definitely: how to grocery shop & COOK!!! Hey, I was a pro kid performer in NYC, so I had my own cash to play with.

I absolutely devoured cookbooks & invented my own recipes. Some were great (I still whip 'em up today) & some were awful! But they obviously didn't kill me.

I also dreamed of creating & owning my own restaurants in Manhattan, Paris & Beverly Hills. I even wrote imaginary menus & logos for them. Though as an adult, I still haven't owned my own eatery, my kidhood "rehearsal" definitely primed me to create logos, menus & styles for many other people's restaurants.

Here's a sampling of several. Though one is never supposed to have a favorite "kid" ... you may sense that "Daniel's" is the Golden Child of my heart. Bon Appetite!