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!
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