Jeff Smith was a force of nature. He used to come storming into the kitchen at Brasil (my first restaurant in Seattle) sniffing around and lifting lids. It was lovely, really. He was a charming man, mostly, although he could be notably difficult and demanding.

His cookbooks are mostly disposable, but he introduced thousands to a sense of world cuisine that was really quite new to most home cooks.

His sex scandal was inevitable in retrospect, but I'm doubtful that it should have destroyed his career the way it did.

For many years, Jeff Smith was my go-to cooking idol. I read his cookbooks, and through them, I learned much of what I know about how to cook. Even as a young child (about 8-9), I would spend hours, poring over this cookbook, imagining all the delicious dishes I could cook, if only I was older. I'm happy to report that now that I am old enough, the recipes are turning out just how I imagined them, those many years ago. :) ( )