Serving overseas led man to try cooking

Egg Corn SoupLIMA — Cooking wasn't something Mark Long considered until his service in the Air Force.He was in Japan from 1968 to 1972, and while there became enamored with the culture. “It's like everything in the Orient fascinated me,” Long said. “That's where the love of cooking came from, there's no doubt about it.”Long started budgeting to be able to dine at a nice restaurant there as often as he could. He remembers it served a seven-course meal, every part of which he loved. “If I could have eaten it every day, I would have,” he said.So he jumped at the chance to learn how to prepare those dishes when the restaurant offered a cooking class. He left with a stack of recipes.“I brought them home and it was probably 10 years before I decided to try them,” Long said. But once he did, he realized how easy the recipes were — and how healthy the focus on vegetables is. As he raised a family, Long often reached for Asian recipes because they're healthy and cost efficient. His children always ask for him to cook Asian food for their birthday dinners, he said, and they grew up helping prepare meals. His two grown sons also enjoy cooking, he said.“I don't consider myself necessarily a great cook,” he said. “When I get that taste, (I) try to figure out what's in it.”Long's interest in food piqued so long ago continues today. He and his wife, Belinda, have a tidy garden plot and grow many different types of vegetables. Last year, he decided to grow one cayenne pepper plant. From that one plant, he reaped at least 150 peppers, he said. He threaded them onto a string and hung them in the kitchen to dry. An idea struck him later to pulverize them in the blender, and now those dried peppers are loaded into a shaker canister in his spice cupboard.“That's what's nice about it. If you have a little garden, you can just experiment,” he said.What Long enjoys about the recipe he shares today is its ease.“This is so simple it's unreal. I can literally make this soup in maybe 10 minutes,” he said. “I hate recipes where you want to make it but you can't because you gotta go find something.”Have a suggestion for who should be featured in this spot? Email amcgee@limanews.com.