What's Cookin' is both a book filled with recipes and stories about Eric Pearson's journey through his life's pursuit of becoming a self-taught chef. More important than the food was the relationships he built along the way with the people he shared his many creations along the way. The journey traces Eric's steps from his initial introduction to primitive cooking over a campfire as a Tenderfoot in the Boy Scouts of America to his full-service kitchen in his home after her retired from Corporate America. The idea of writing the book about the creation and delivery of the meals sprung out of Eric's three-year stay at The Residence Inn in El Segundo California during the last three years he served as an Executive Director for the Northrop Grumman Corporation between 2001 and 2014. Those three years were spend developing his talents for slicing and dicing vegetables and creating meals for himself and up to as many as fifty people at a time in a studio hotel room where the kitchen, living room and bedroom were in a single space. The kitchen consisted on a refrigerator, oven, cooktop and minimal provisions for preparing and serving meals. Minimal supplies were used to created amazing meals. In authoring this book, Eric initially intended to write approximately 20,000 words tracing his life in meeting people through his cooking, provide a few recipes and pictures along the way. The reader will quickly discover that the plan grew over time, resulting in 63,000 words, 292 pages, hundreds of recipes and 178 pictures. Read, enjoy the stories about have conversations over food fill the soul and try some of Eric's creations in your own Kitchen. Eric concludes his journey through cooking at the Roadkill Café in Seligman, Arizona and recommends anyone traveling in the Southwest and through Arizona stop in Seligman at the end of Old Route 66 and have a meal at the Roadkill Café. Mention this book and they just might give you a discount. The reader will fill their mind with smells of food simmering in the kitchen as they imagine the completed meal surrounded by friendly conversation and sharing of ideas and cultures.
