Who's this Vivek guy?

When I was 11, my parents had a dinner party. But every other kid was 4 years old or younger. The men were in the living room talking politics, after a few minutes with them I got bored so I went to the kitchen where all the women were cooking. To her credit my mother said "if you're just going to watch go grab a knife and start helping". I was so utterly bored I agreed.

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That's when I realized if I didn't want to eat whatever my mother would make for dinner (and what kid does), if I learned to cook I could easily make something else. And something other than grilled cheese!

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Fast forward 3 years later, I was a bratty 14 year old boy. But I was also a staple in the kitchen during dinner parties. All the moms were very forgiving of my attitude as long as I cooked my by-then famous chole dish you see on this website.

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At 17 I had two completed college applications: 1) Culinary Institute of America, 2) Computer Science. (In the mid 80s, when *nobody* went to school for CompSci). I opted to do what made me money, so I could afford to do what I enjoyed in my spare time.

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In 2021 I'm still not a professional chef and I don't want to be. I'm a healthcare management consultant. But cooking is still one of my passions. As I age, I'd rather give up my car keys than my Japanese chef knives.

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And yes, I do look remarkably like that Bitmoji above....