I have loved food and cooking for as long as I can remember. Ever since I was a young girl, some of my fondest memories were of my Mom cooking traditional “Pennsylvania Dutch” (German) style meals. From chicken potpie with homemade egg noodles, to beef sauerbraten and dumplings to pickled eggs, I will never forget the smell of my Mom’s cooking and how she would get so mad at me for constantly tasting the food on the stove before it was finished. I was always getting in her way in our small apartment kitchen, but she would finally give in a put me to work—my job was the constant stirrer—but I had to promise to keep the spoon in the pan and out of my mouth. Since we lived in a small apartment building the smell of my Mom’s cooking would permeate the building and neighbors would always stop by our apartment to see what was for dinner and stay for hours chatting and enjoying great food.

Even before “slow food” became the movement that it is today, my Mom would always cook with the freshest ingredients found at local farm stands in Maryland where I grew up. I remember eating the most tender silver queen corn on the cob and the biggest juicy beefsteak tomatoes during the summer months into early fall. We hardly ever ate the processed foods of the 1960’s-70, even though my Mom worked many hours outside of the home. Every meal that my Mom cooked was from scratch and took time to prepare and was delicious and I am very thankful for that—for my Mom and for her great food!

My path to becoming a professional chef went through 15 years as an executive assistant in Silicon Valley to some of the top executives and technology firms that made the Valley what it is today. It was after a well-known venture backed-startup closed its doors that I reevaluated what was important to me and decided that my true calling was in cooking.

I attended a specialty cooking school in San Francisco, which taught me the basics of classical French cooking, but it really wasn’t until I went to work for a high-end restaurant where skills such as working in a fast-paced, high-pressured environment, taught me how to create really good food based on taste and presentation. Working in a kitchen environment is very challenging, but everyday I learn something new and improve my skills. I work with really great people and they give me the opportunity to experiment with many ingredients and to create new daily specials, which I will share with you in my blog.

Fortunately, thanks to my Mom, I have a good palate and have always been fascinated by different cuisines and pairing of flavors. My husband and I have traveled extensively in the Mediterranean region (Greece, Turkey, Spain and Morocco) and this is where my true passion for cooking lies. My hope one day is to own a small Mediterranean café with my husband (hopefully somewhere along the shores of the Aegean Sea :-)

Thank you for visiting my blog and spending time to read my articles. I welcome your comments and input as you come along with me on my journey of enjoying really great food “On a white plate”.