I am a stay-at-home mother to identical twin boys and wife to a big nerd. I have loved food for as long as I can remember. The first things I learned to cook (if you could call it that) were ramen noodles, Hamburger Helper, egg salad, and chocolate chip cookies. We didn't eat at home very often growing up and I found myself wishing that I could eat tasty restaurant food from my own kitchen. I also have a huge passion for baking and all things sweet.
My journey into chef-dom was kind of a surprise. If you had asked me five, ten, or fifteen years ago what I would be "when I grew up" the answer would certainly not have been chef. It might have been astronaut, rabbi, teacher, or architect. Definitely not chef. My first real job was working at Jason's Deli when I was 15 and I followed that up with a job at Sonic, then a local Mexican restaurant. Somewhere in there, I had started college at a four year university and quickly realized that a traditional college experience wasn't for me. I decided over the summer after my freshman year of college to follow my love for food and the hospitality industry to culinary school. I graduated with an Associate of Applied Science in Culinary Arts and a Le Cordon Bleu certificate in 2007. Unsure of how to translate my degree in savory foods and my love of baking into a promising pastry career, I ended up managing the bakery in a local grocery store. It was like cake decorating boot camp. For anyone thinking about going into cake decorating, there's nothing I can recommend more than working in a high volume kitchen. There was a brief period when I toyed with the idea of opening my own bakery but those plans never came to fruition.
There came a point along the way that I had a serious back injury. After being management at the grocery store for a few months the pain became unbearable. I made the very tough decision to quit my job - the first time I'd ever left a job without having another lined up - so that I could focus on healing and return to work refreshed in a couple of months. After exactly two weeks of being unemployed, I found out that I was pregnant with twins. And thus, my career was put on hiatus until further notice. Now, the only people I cook for are my two screaming toddlers, my husband, and sometimes friends and family. I love my life and family but feel like it's time to share my wealth of cooking knowledge and recipes with others. If one person learns to cook a little better or finds a new recipe to add to their repertoire, I will be happy. I hope you enjoy!
