By Bettina Isabella

Editor's Note: While Suzanne is recuperating from knee surgery, several In Good Taste readers have agreed to share their food thoughts and experiences.

There is a moment in one's life when the understanding of food is born…

As a little girl, I vividly remember watching Daddy
in the morning as he stood at the old stove in our second generation
Baltimore born Italian delicatessen,
Palmisanos, fondly referred to as "the shop."
I looked on with fascination
as he passionately prepared that enormous 10–gallon pot of tomato sauce.
He carefully poured in the olive oil from a beautiful square tin
and he made this sauce every morning of his life
with such grace, love and ceremony.
Carefully adding the aromatic ingredients of chopped onions…
the garlic,
those colorful little red and orange dried pepper flakes,
the basil, the oregano
and so on.
It only took a few minutes for the air to joyfully exclaim,
"It's Italian!"

From that moment, my food journey began … known today as b e t t i n a i s a b e l l a

Thank you Papa!

Bettina Isabella grew up in Baltimore and spent most of her childhood years in her family-owned Italian Delicatessen. With no formal training she took up her passion for cooking at local cafes, restaurants and catering companies throughout Baltimore adopting techniques and wisdom from chefs and mentors whom she considered expert. With an appended background in both commercial and fine arts, Bettina united her artistic talents with her love of cooking and currently is a private chef catering to a cosmopolitan circle of clients in Ruxton, Greenspring Valley and surrounding areas in Maryland.