Home At Last! with Patty Gironda

  Many people who stop to chat about Home At Last! usually ask about my favorite types of food. I'm often asked who inspires me and who do I enjoy watching on television. The first question is the toughest-I love so many types of foods. I am a huge fan of Japanese food, I enjoy the passion behind Tuscan foods, and I often crave middle-eastern food with its rich, exotic spices and contrasting textures. So the answer changes depending on the day that question is asked. Who has inspired over time is much easier to answer. I remember being captivated by Julia Child and she remains one of my favorite TV personalities. Jacques Pepin was another, Martha Stewart helped me realize that I was passionate about home and Francios Vatel, a famous French Chef inspires me to create beautiful food! The radio and television personality that I would have most liked to meet was John McPherson, The Mystery Chef! He predated Julia Child, starting out in radio in the 30's and he also enjoyed a ...

    Most of my father's military tours were in Europe and Turkey, but when we were lucky enough to live in the states my father was stationed at Keesler Air Force Base in Biloxi, Mississippi. As a young girl I loved the Mississippi Gulf Coast! There was so much for a little girl to do back then. We fished and crabbed the piers and rocks. We hunted tadpoles and sold them for pocket money. There were always school presentations, talent contests and fun family entertainment nights that took us a week to write, produce and perform. One of our houses intersected with the road that emptied onto Beach Boulevard, with the Jefferson Davis Home, Beauvoir, on the corner. Back then, my mother allowed my sister and I to walk to the beach and even tour Beauvior by ourselves. My mother's only rule-hold hands when we crossed the big highway! School lunches in the south were remarkably different from the school lunches on military bases overseas. Both left lasting impressions and hol...