Jay Francis

The rumor is that I started teaching myself to cook because my mother was a really bad cook. This is a half truth. I do remember, at the age of 11, trying to make a home-made tortilla by mixing corn starch and water. In Europe, I found ways to grow Jalapeno chiles on my windowsill and make Euro-enchiladas with a French crepe recipe and Gouda cheese.

I've always liked to mess around in the kitchen but it was when I returned from working in Europe, around 1983, that I began to get serious about cooking. Self taught, courtesy of a subscription to Bon Appetit, where I did almost every recipe in the magazine every month. Ah yes, the golden years of Bon Appetit....1982-1984.

That led to teaching cooking classes as a hobby, creating a guide to economical ethnic eating in Houston that still is floating around the web (www.b4-u-eat.com), championing hole-in-the-wall ethnic restaurants here in Houston and conducting ethnic market tours here in Houston for The Orange Show.

Result of which was that I have had the pleasure of getting to know some first rate food writers here in Houston. Robb Walsh of The Houston Press, of course. And Dai Huynh and Alison Cook of the Chronicle.

I got to accompany Dai Huynh to Oaxaca for a series she did on food down there....I was her translator and facilitator....that was a great trip. And, the high point in my foodie life, bar none, was when my buddy Robb Walsh asked if I would help him test recipes for The Tex-Mex Cookbook. One and a half years of recipe testing, surfing e-bay for cool vintage Tec-Mex memorabilia, brainstorming about the origins of chili gravy, the combo plate, man I was in heaven!

I have been going to Mexico at least once a year for upwards of 20 years. These years I default to the city of Oaxaca, which has everything I look for in a vacation spot. Though I still take trips to visit family in Mexico City on occasion, and love to visit Puebla.

I probably know Mexico better than many Mexicanos, and certainly know the country better than I know the US.

And, if you're ever in Houston, please feel free to give me a call, and I'll take you on a cook's tour of out of the way barbecue, Tex-Mex, Asian and Indo-Pak restaurants.