Nicki Martin Profile

Cooking Influences

Growing up, I spent nearly every evening in the kitchen with my mother preparing dinner. Working alongside her, I learned many cooking basics and developed an appreciation for food. When I got my driver's license it became my self-assigned weekly chore to plan our family"s meals and do the grocery shopping. However, it was travel that sparked my interest in becoming more exploratory in the kitchen and experimenting with new and unfamiliar ingredients. My dad traveled internationally for work and I often tagged along. After each trip I strove to recreate the new flavors that I had experienced abroad in my family's kitchen. The first "gourmet" dish I ever made was Honey Glazed Pork Tenderloin with Fennel from the memoir Under the Tuscan Sun by Frances Mayes. It was a much richer dish than my family was used to eating but it was deemed a success and that further propelled my exploration.

I have been an on-again, off-again vegetarian since high school and though I'm not currently a vegetarian I still enjoy experimenting with meatless recipes. More recently, I have also been influenced by the Barefoot Contessa and Martha Stewart.