FOOD 2 DIE 4

 

Born and raised in Hollywood, I grew up on bagels and lox, matzo ball soup, chopped liver, pickeled herring and gefilte fish.

 

So how I got this crazy craving for other ethnic foods is a strange story.

 

We had Chinese neighbors who had a laundry around the corner from us and I would look into the back of their establishment and watch them eat and cook. I was fascinated that everything was cooked in a strange, rounded bottom pan, served with rice and eaten with two sticks. I was about 5 years old and those memories have lasted a lifetime.  Where ever you are, Mr. and Mrs. Eng, I am totally in debt to you.

School was difficult for me because of my learning disabilities so I wanted to stay home from school and cook. I've always known that I wanted to become a professionally trained chef but was told that would never happen because I was so scattered and unorganized. Nonetheless, I started baking around the time I was in high school and learned to make a variety of cheesecakes and I continue to come up with many different flavor pairings and new products.

 

Recently, I completed the Professional Baking Certification program at LATT (http://college.lattc.edu/culinaryarts/professional-baking/) and earned ServSafe Certification.  (http://www.servsafe.com/ss/foodhandler/)

 

Over the years I have eaten and studied Chinese, Singaporean,Thai, Indian, Indonesian, Sri Lankan, Korean, Pakistani, Afghani, Korean, Mongolian, Taiwanese, Japanese, Italian, French, Spanish and Greek cuisines. As a result, I incorporate ingredients and techniques from around the world in my cooking and baking.

 

I have been baking for more than 25 years and have created a variety of truly unusual and delicious mini cheesecakes which use the best ingredients from around the world. Examples include vanilla beans from Tahiti, Belgian chocolate known as Callabuet white and a super dark chocolate, and freshly ground spices from India that really pop on your taste buds. All produce is organic, seasonal and purchased from local farmers’ markets.

 

Some of my favorite mini cheesecake flavor pairings are white chocolate with seasonal berries, espresso with chocolate, organic pumpkin with fresh ground masala and chai spices, molten chocolate cake with salted caramel sauce and Thai ice tea mini cheesecake.

 

Please email or call me if you have any suggestions, questions or want to plan an upcoming event!