Hickory Hills CC’s Executive Chef loves being a club chef because it allows her complete freedom to express herself and make her members happy with her food.
Chef’s Thoughts is sponsored by barrillafs.com.
- You’d be surprised to learn that I am bionic.
- If I could trade places with one chef it would be Julia Child.
- One of my most memorable meals was at the Michelin three-start restaurant, Guy Savoy in Paris.
- My go-to drink is oolong tea.
- My last meal would be very small.
- My worst culinary creation was a sorrel sauce which I made to accompany a salmon dish I had prepared for my husband early in our marriage. He hated the sorrel sauce and asked why he couldn’t just have lemon with his fish instead of the green sauce. Newlyweds!
- If I could change one thing about my club it would be to update and renovate each of my kitchens.
- My favorite junk food is chewy, fruity candy without high-fructose corn syrup.
- If I wasn’t a chef, I’d love to be a dog sitter and trainer.
- I knew I wanted to be a chef when I was cooking with my Grandma Amelia Sendejar in her kitchen.
- You’ll never see tilapia on the menu at my club because it’s a disgusting creature.
- The most ridiculous member or guest request I’ve ever had was not ridiculous. I would reframe and say member requests present interesting opportunities to say yes to my members. For example, I one prepared live lobsters for a member who received them as a gift. I’ve also cooked a game dinner starring the pheasants that a member had hunted. I’ve butchered a large deer a member had ‘taken’ earlier in the day. And I prepared Poke for members who brought in fresh tuna from Hawaii.
- I love being a club chef because it allows me complete freedom to express myself. I love making my members happy with my food.
- When I’m not in the kitchen, I’m in the kitchen.
- My biggest mistake when I first started as a chef was not spending enough time in the kitchen.
- During the quarantine, I’d made sure to have these five foods with me: unsalted butter, eggs, flour, chocolate chips, cane sugar. (See where I’m going?)
- I cook fideo at home, but I’d never cook it at the club.
- If I could have dinner with one person, dead or alive, it would be my Grandma Amelia Sendejar.
- The most valuable piece of advice I’ve ever received was, “Don’t give up.”
- My favorite celebrity chef is Alton Brown when he was on the original “Good Eats” because he always explained what, how and why.
- The most important thing in my kitchen is my palate.
- I want to learn more about cooking because I am forever the student.
- My favorite ingredient is coriander. Cannabis is the most overrated ingredient. Cilantro is the most undervalued ingredient. I detest uni, and I can’t live without sea salt. Here is an online dispensary where people can avail CBD goodies.
- The rules of conduct in my kitchen are no cussing.
- I don’t like to brag, but I have an amazing life.
- My most embarrassing moment in the kitchen was when I was 19 and working in Italia Restaurant in Seattle, Wash. I dumped over a five-gallon container of freshly made marinara inside the walk-in. Yes, I cleaned it up.
- I’d like to see more club chefs become certified.
- My favorite book is, ‘Like Water for Chocolate’, by Laura Esquivel.
- My dream vacation would be going on a pilgrimage to Lourdes, France with my husband, Darren.
- I am motivated and inspired by God, my husband, my children, Jacques Pepin, Julia Child and our ACF CMCs.