Cooking is my passion and teaching my avocation. I started cooking in Kindergarten borrowing a kids cookbook from the school library. Determined to make a recipe. I nearly burned down the house or at least from my 5 year old eyes it looked like when I set a paper towel alight trying to wipe some scrambled egg off the counter–(which my mother quickly doused in the sink)... Little did I know I would ignite a fire in me to cook for life.
By twelve I was making desserts for a variety of restaurants and catering companies. That just fueled the flame. In college I worked in the kitchen of a few restaurants and in the President’s house of my Alma Mater Smith College earning pocket money to supplement my studies. Post college I studied Art and Architecture at the University College of London, where I met and married my husband, an Australian and moved to Sydney, We returned from Sydney with our daughter and settled on the Upper West Side in Manhattan–and have been here ever since.
I began my career in management at Macy’s and after completing my MBA I delved into the realms of Public Relations, Marketing and Business Development at a number of luxury goods manufacturers and retailers including Saks Fifth Avenue, Galeries La Fayette, Williams Sonoma and Sur La table.
Working at Sur la Table inspired me to return to my love of cooking and enabled me to find a position as a chef instructor–a job I truly enjoy. I love to discover the origin and history of food, the science behind why things work and the artistry that we can create with our palates and senses and convey that to my students. I have taught in a number of different locations including Urbani Truffle, City Cooking. I was the Culinary Coordinator of Fairway’s cooking program as well as working for Union Settlement teaching underprivileged young adults culinary skills to help them enter the culinary profession.
Teaching children. giving them the basic skills, techniques and knowledge to become creative