Welcome!

Food at last, food at last...

Thank goodness I'm writing about food, at last! This blog has been a long time coming. After over 20 years in the food industry I have decided to write about all things related to the food industry from my perspective. This will include my experiences in the restaurant industry, food I can't live without, recipes I've tried or will try, must-have gadgets, cookbook reviews, food/restaurant critiques, helpful hints, and maybe just maybe I'll be persuaded to make some cooking videos.

I am passionate about good, healthy, fun food. Some people eat to merely sustain themselves...I eat because I love food. I've always heard, "Never trust a skinny cook." Well, I'm far from skinny but I would like to eat more healthily while not depriving myself of the wonderful food that this world has to offer.

A little bit about my journey thus far...

Ever since I was a little girl I dreamed of going to culinary school and becoming a world-famous chef. I grew up in Upstate New York and always thought that I would go to the Culinary Institute of America. I wanted to wear the white chef coat with my name on it and the tall chef hats (toques) and carry my knife bag around with me. My dream was to go to culinary school, graduate, and move to France. Everyone talks about France as the foodie's mecca.

My mom and I moved to Virginia when I was 12 years old. I plugged away at school, taking French class to prepare for my eventual move to France and excelling in Math and Science, two things I knew I would need if I was going to be a great chef one day!

When I turned 16, I got my 1st job as a waitress in Staunton, Virginia at a mexican restaurant called Rosa's Cantina. Sure, it wasn't France but at least I got my foot in the door of a local restaurant that people seemed to really like. Looking back, the food was mediocre but I loved everything about the atmosphere: the fast pace, the flirting with the bartender, the cooks yelling at the waitresses and us yelling back...I felt like I was at home.

Life took a huge turn for me when my mom passed away. I was one month away from turning 17 and I went to go live with family friends in Gaithersburg, Maryland. My life was was directionless and I was not even remotely motivated to find my passion for the restaurant business again. I decided to go college and pursue a Psychology degree at Liberty University in Lynchburg, VA. I was there on a Work Study program...while most of my friends didn't have to work, I did. I decided to get a job at our school cafeteria which was run by Marriott.

My first boss was a pretty slimy guy. Yes, it was a Southern Baptist, very conservative school but there are always dirt balls everywhere! There were only a couple of us girls working there and our boss made our life miserable. I definitely could have charged him with sexual harassment but I needed the job and I figured the experience would be good on my resume. I dropped out of school my sophomore year and soon after moved to Colorado.

After two years of working in retail in the Denver area I decided to get back to food. My life had become a bit chaotic and I'm the type of person that thrives on structure. I decided that I needed to pursue my life-long dream of going to culinary school. I filled out an application for Johnson & Wales University in Providence, RI and was soon excepted into their program. 

After much debating I decided that I was not ready to leave Colorado and found out that there was a fairly new program at the Art Institute of Colorado that had a AAS degree in Culinary Arts. I filled out all my paperwork and was quickly accepted into the program. I started in January 1995. This decision would renew my passion and love for all things food.

Since I graduated from the Art Institute in 1996 I've worked at some really great restaurants:

• The Fort, Morrison, Colorado 
• The Boulders Resort & Spa, Cave Creek, Arizona
• Ilios Mediterranean Restaurant, Denver, Colorado
• Wolfgang Puck Cafe, Denver, Colorado
• Strings, Denver, Colorado
• BD's Mongolian BBQ, Bethesda, Maryland

I have been a dishwasher, a line cook, a server, a floor supervisor, an expeditor, a FOH (front of the house) and BOH (back of house-kitchen) manager. My experience in this industry gives me a unique perspective into the inner workings of restaurants. 

I look forward to sharing more with you in my future posts!