Member Since:
Dec. 2005
Cooking Level:
Professional
Cooking Interests:
Asian, Indian, Middle Eastern, Mediterranean, Low Carb, Healthy, Vegetarian
Hobbies:
Gardening, Hiking/Camping, Biking, Walking, Charity Work
I'm an organic, Kosher, mostly vegetarian chef & caterer. I'm also an enthusiastic home chef, and I have been using allrecipes.com for years in both my business and home. I focus on healthy, natural, light cooking with lots of vibrant flavors and exotic influences. I'm always trying new cuisines, and love getting to know a country by exploring its traditional recipes.
My favorite things to cook
Salads! Not cooked food at all, really, but a beautiful palette of infinite possibilities. I LOVE summertime fresh, seasonal fruits and vegetables, and my favorite thing is to browse the produce at the farmer's market or in my garden, select a basket of what is really fresh and good, and then combine different things into an amazing salad.
My favorite family cooking traditions
I love making Shabbat dinners for my family - Shabbat is the Hebrew word for Sabbath, and is the 25-hour period from Friday at sunset until Saturday evening when 3 stars appear. Traditionally Jews have three festive meals during this time, and Friday night is always the most elaborate. I have brought this custom back to my family, and I love making traditional foods like chicken soup and challah to celebrate together.
My cooking triumphs
Kosher versions of Paella, bouillabaisse, and jambalaya. Flax versions of everything I used to love with gluten in it but cannot eat anymore. Really, really good coffee. :-)
My cooking tragedies
None that I can think of, thankfully! Since I do this for a living, I am pretty good at tweaking a recipe that starts out bland into something good or great. I did have a crazy situation once at a client's home - I turned on the oven to preheat, and after a while smelled something REALLY bad coming from the oven. I ignored it at first, thinking it was just something burnt on. As it got worse, though, I grew concerned and opened the oven door to check it out. What should I see inside the oven but the drippy, stringy remainders of 5 or 6 very large tupperware containers that the client had stuffed into the oven and forgotten about! It took hours to clean the mess up off the inside of the oven, yuck! Now I always look in a client's oven before turning it on. :-)