When you were a kid, what did you want to be?
A missionary, then an actress
When and where were you born?
1961 Atlanta, GA
What was your first job in food?
Catering chef at the Carter Center in Atlanta
When you were a kid, what did you want to be when you grew up?
A missionary, then an actress
What is your favorite thing about being a chef?
Creating new gelato flavors!
Did you have an “aha” moment when you knew you wanted to be a chef?
No, not really.
Best advice you ever got?
There is more than one way to do something correctly.
What’s the strangest thing you’ve ever eaten?
Durian. I can’t get past that smell…
Your favorite ingredient.
Egg whites.
The ingredient that turns you off the most.
I’m tired of fusing flavors that really just shouldn’t be together.
Your favorite tool.
Whisk/Immersion blender
What is your favorite thing to do when you’re not cooking.
Yoga
What would you like to do before you get too old to do it.
Travel everywhere
Tell us a deep dark secret (doesn’t have to be food related).
I HATE uni.
How do you deal with the stress?
Yoga and running. An occasional cocktail never hurts, either.
How did becoming a chef change your life, your direction.
Focus and discipline
Who would you like to meet?
John Irving
Who would you like to cook for?
President Biden – he apparently really loves ice cream!
What was the hardest thing for you to learn? Or is there something you just can’t get right?
In cooking? Cooking isn’t hard. But I’m not very good at sharpening knives.
Is there some little something you do for your family to make up for the time you’re not with them?
I give them free gelato!
Please give us a cooking tip that people might not know like “adding a little bit of oil to butter so it doesn’t burn.
Swiss and Italian buttercreams will come together easily after adding a flavoring like vanilla or other extract.
Tell us a funny story from the kitchen
Once I had a student at J & W start a pie-throwing fight in my kitchen!
