Introduction

Food has been a passion of mine for as long as I can remember. I've always loved eating, and when I was a child I loved learning about and trying new foods. Growing up, I enjoyed making pancakes or brownies with my mom and biscuits or cookies with my grandmother. I became an avid viewer of the Food Network and loved to learn about different cuisines and food items. As I got older, my tastes broadened to include a wide range of foods and styles, including but not limited to Italian (my mother is 100% Italian), Mediterranean, barbeque, Mexican (I grew up in Texas), Indian, Thai, Japanese and others.

After I graduated from high school, I enrolled in the University of Texas at Austin, but I realized pretty quickly that I was not happy there. One day in the summertime I was sitting in my room watching Rachel Ray and I had something of an epiphany. UT wasn't working out for me because it didn't make me happy - I wasn't passionate about what I was learning. Food made me happy. I was passionate about good food - not just eating it, but making it and learning about it. I decided to make my passion my profession, and told my parents that I wanted to enroll in culinary school. My parents were initially resistant to the idea because they wanted me to get a traditional four year Bachelor's degree, but when they learned that the Culinary Institute of America had a fully accredited Bachelor's program, they agreed and sent me off to Hyde Park, New York.

The three years I spent at CIA were awesome. I made some great friends and learned a ton about food and cooking. I didn't really have a clear career path envisioned when I enrolled, and as I went through my courses I went back and forth on whether or not I wanted to work in a "real" restaurant kitchen. For a while I thought it would be good experience, but it's no secret that working in restaurants can often mean long hours, high-stress environments, difficult co-workers and compensation packages that leave a lot to be desired. I kept my career options open and just tried to focus on learning as I made my way through the program.

Part of the program at CIA includes an internship, and I did mine at a private school in East Hampton, New York that was well-known for the high quality of its kitchen. The Executive Chef was a big proponent of natural eating, and the cuisine was centered around regional, organic, seasonal and sustainable foods. I loved the high-quality ingredients that I got to use, the amazing chefs that I had the opportunity to work with, and the focus on foods that were not only delicious, but were also wholesome, natural and prepared with respect for the Earth. While I was living in East Hampton, I also had the opportunity to do quite a bit of catering work, primarily with the chefs that I worked with at the school. I left my internship with an energized approach to food and a genuine desire to excel in my career.

One of the classes that I took after returning from my internship was the Exploring Wine course - an intensive three week long survey course in world-wide wine production. Although I had just begun to develop a budding interest in wine in the months before entering the class, learning about all the different wine regions of the world, their respective wine laws and the myriad and varied wines they produced ignited a spark in me. I don't know what exactly it is about wine that is so fascinating to me, but I think it is a combination of its relation to food (including connections to science and culture), its esoteric nature and the sense of categorization that makes it really intriguing to me.

After finishing the wine course, I was seriously considering a job in the wine industry, but still had not completely given up on the idea of working in the foodservice industry. I had enjoyed the catering and private chef work that I did in the Hamptons and thought that might be a good avenue for me to explore. During my last summer break at CIA, I worked for a family that lived north of Manhattan, cooking business lunches for the father and an occasional family dinner. In the end, however, my passion for wine won out and I decided to go all the way for a career in wine. I quit smoking, got a certification from the Court of Master Sommeliers and worked as a tutor for the CIA's wine course, all to prepare myself for my new career path.

I have worked in the wine industry, on both the retail side and the business side, since graduating from CIA. I currently work as the in-store wine buyer for a grocery store that is part of a high-end national chain. I am also taking classes at a local community college with the intention of enrolling in the viticulture and enology (winemaking) program at the University of California at Davis. While I've never actually worked as a professional chef, I love cooking, and I'm not that bad at it, if I do say so myself. I plan on posting pictures and descriptions of meals I make or eat, as well as entries about different food and wine related topics. Enjoy!