La Fattoria Micro-Farm and Frittata Demo

By Beth Schreibman Gehring

Nestled in the heart of Novelty, Ohio, La Fattoria farm is a charming Italian-style micro farm that is a feast for the senses. The animals are treated with the utmost care and respect, allowed to roam free and live their lives as nature intended. From the gentle bleating of the sheep to the clucking of the chickens, the farm is alive with the sounds of happy animals. But it's not just the animals that make La Fattoria farm so special. The stunning countryside vistas and centuries old farmhouse and barns transport visitors to another world, one where the hustle and bustle of everyday life fades away.

We were so impressed by the farm's commitment to sustainable farming practices. The family behind La Fattoria is dedicated to preserving the land and using all natural methods to grow their crops and feed their livestock. Their chickens eat fermented grains, a far healthier alternative to traditional chicken food. It may be a bit more expensive, but we ate a frittata made from their duck eggs and it was so easy to completely taste the difference. It's a refreshing change from the industrialized farming practices that dominate much of the food industry.

Overall, our visit to La Fattoria farm was a truly magical experience. We all left feeling so inspired by the passion that this family pours into their work. It's a powerful reminder of the necessity for small-scale, sustainable family farming in our world, and that we can all do our part to support it.

If you're looking for a peaceful escape from the hustle and bustle of everyday life, we highly recommend a visit. We promise that you won't be disappointed.

This was an event hosted by the Les Dames d'Escoffier International Cleveland Chapter and it was wonderful! There was a wonderful frittata making demonstration by our own Dame Marla Monzo-Holmes https://marlathechefinred.com and it was absolutely delicious.

What a great afternoon! Many thanks to La Fattoria Farm for a simply magical experience!

#LaFattoriaFarm

 

Cleveland LDEI Announces 2022 Grant Recipient

Local nonprofit Cleveland Seed Bank plants real ‘seeds of change’

By Elaine Cicora

The Cleveland Chapter of Les Dames d’Escoffier International is pleased to announce that local nonprofit, The Cleveland Seed Bank, is the 2022 recipient of our Green Tables Initiative Grant.

The Cleveland Seed Bank is the domestic work of The Hummingbird Project, an international nonprofit based in Cleveland, Ohio. It aims to safeguard and restore the biological diversity vital for sustainable agriculture, both in the U.S. and around the world.

“The Cleveland Les Dames chapter feels strongly about supporting organizations such as this, that benefit local foods systems,” says chapter member and grants committee chairperson Carol Hacker. “Connecting and educating members of the local community builds strength in neighborhoods and improves everyone's lives.”

The $2,000 grant will be used to support the Seed Bank’s Climate Change Speaker Series, a monthly series of speaker-led events surrounding the issue of climate change as it relates to food insecurity, healthy eating and our food system. According to Hummingbird Project co-founder and executive director, Marilyn McHugh, the topics have been chosen with a “seed to table” mindset, which will allow participants to confidently prepare home gardens, grow food, know where their food comes from, save adaptable seed, attract local pollinators and minimize waste – thereby helping build a local food system in Northeast Ohio that is more resilient to the effects of climate change.

Thus far, topics in the series have included soil blocking and seed starting, composting, use of organic fertilizers, and a cooking demo featuring “Glorious Greens.”

All workshops are presented in the classroom space at local nonprofit Cleveland Roots – coincidentally, the 2019 recipient of LDEI-Cleveland’s Green Tables grant – and have attracted a multicultural, intergenerational audience of “people who are passionate about local food and knowing where their food comes from,” says Marilyn.

“We wanted to offer subjects that would be engaging and interactive,” she continues. “The fact that the classroom is right next to Cleveland Roots’ greenhouse is a real plus. We can be teaching in the classroom and then walk right next door to the greenhouse and actually show participants just what we have been talking about.”

Founded in 2011 by Marilyn and her husband, Chris Kennedy, the Hummingbird Project and its initiatives have focused on reconnecting people to the natural world and empowering community resilience through ecological regeneration and sustainable practices. Chris is a professional educator and Marilyn is a biologist, soil microbiologist, researcher, avid seed saver and full-time staffer with the National Institutes of Health. Together, Marilyn says, they envision initiatives like the Cleveland Seed Bank and the Speaker Series as providing participants with a set of “actionable skills” for tackling climate change.

In its role to promote locally adapted seeds, the Cleveland Seed Bank operates in partnership with 20 local public libraries, comprising seven public-library systems and three counties. Participants are able to “borrow” seeds from their library, plant them in their gardens, and enjoy their harvests. Then, they save the seeds from their mature plants and may either share them with their community or bring them to the annual Winter Seed Swap, an immensely popular event attracting up to 500 eager participants. The Seed Bank also hosts various plant sales and swaps, including a recent one at a local brewery. “It has been so much fun to build these programs,” says Marilyn. “And now, especially in the wake of COVID, there is so much happiness and joy in being in community again!”

Just how do locally adapted seeds play a role in fighting climate change? Marilyn explains. “Seeds are living embryos,” she says. “Every seed is alive, and the ones we plant in Cleveland and save, year after year, adapt. They have memories of the challenges faced by their ancestors, and they adapt: to our weather, our water and our soil. This is the real solution: for our farmers to grow resilient, adapted seeds, working with Mother Nature and not against her. All that adaptability is right there in the seeds.”

While admitting that the pressures of climate change are no longer theoretical, Marilyn says she holds out hope for effective solutions. “I envision a world that is inspired by nature, where we look to nature to learn how to solve our problems, and so create healthy, resilient, abundant livelihoods. By that, I mean we are not polluting, not damaging our ecosystem, but are enhancing biodiversity and regenerating healthy ecosystems.

“I am hugely optimistic,” she concludes. “Every time I see a seed sprout, it gives me hope.”

The Climate Change Speaker Series is free and open to the public. Go here to find a listing of upcoming workshops and other special events sponsored by The Hummingbird Project. While you’re there, you can sign up for their newsletter, or connect with them on Facebook.

“LDEI’s Green Tables Initiative allows each chapter to support programs in their community that deepen the relationship between locally grown food and what's on our plates,” says Cleveland LDEI chapter president Beth Davis-Noragon. “We are very excited to support the Cleveland Seed Bank and are thrilled that the program aligns with the Initiative literally from a ground-up basis. But it goes much deeper than seeds-in-dirt, by addressing the even bigger picture of climate change through local gardens and their impact on creating more sustainable food systems.

“Not only is it about local food, it’s good food for thought.”

A Growing Community

By Elaine Cicora
Photos by Beth Segal


It’s one thing to vote to award a $2,000 grant to a local “farm to fork” operation. It is another thing entirely to see, first hand, the wonderful work that that organization is doing.

That was our pleasure and privilege on Monday, Nov. 4, when chapter members were guests at Cleveland Roots, our 2019 Green Tables grant winner.

Executive director Maria Livers, garden manager Lisa Hardin, and chef Giovanna Mingrone, onsite partner and founder of Stone Soup Cle, gave us a warm welcome and a charming space for our business meeting and potluck inside their West 41st Street headquarters, on agricultural property that dates back to the 1880s. Following our meeting, the trio of inspiring women provided an in-depth tour of the greenhouses, gardens and market store that make up this part of the project.

Our grant award went to formalize and continue the organization’s Food & Garden Series, which helps residents of the surrounding Clark-Fulton neighborhood learn to grow and prepare healthy foods. We learned that the neighborhood is home to people of many nationalities, languages and cultures, including a number of Latin American countries and “almost every African nation.” Access to fresh, wholesome, and reasonably priced foods is limited in the area, as is household income. While many in the community were experienced gardeners in their homelands, lack of seed, space and equipment has limited their ability to grow their own food in Cleveland. In addition, unfamiliar crops and weather conditions can make growing and food prep a challenge.

These are just a few of the barriers that the Food & Garden Series helps community members overcome, with “classes that share a topic and come at it both from the gardening and the food angles in the same session. … Classes address questions about the benefits of growing, preparing and eating healthy food, how to grow from seed, growing in an urban setting, gardening techniques, care and maintenance of the garden, and the harvest, preservation and preparation of produce from garden to table” (from Cleveland Roots’ 2019 grant proposal).

More importantly, though, we learned that Cleveland Roots provides a place – within a tranquil urban oasis comprising 35 raised beds, picnic tables, a well-equipped tool shed, and welcoming space for classes -- of succor, sustenance and community building. “This has been a blessing and a relief for our clients,” Maria said of the property. “Many of them had been subsistence farmers in their home countries. At least here we can give them a 4-by-8-foot plot of land and place to relax. Sometimes that feeds you more than growing a potato.”

Giovanna also took time to talk to us about Stone Soup CLE, a nonprofit she founded in 2015 to rescue nutritious food from landfills and direct it to the dinner tables of those who need it most. A recent grant has allowed her to remodel space inside the Cleveland Roots headquarters for Stone Soup operations, installing a combo walk-in cooler and freezer to facilitate food storage, and creating a large space for organizing and sorting donations. In addition to running her own operation out of the space, Giovanna, a Culinary Institute of America alum and culinary instructor at Cuyahoga Community College, also assists in the culinary education segment of the Food & Garden Series.

We ended our tour with a peek inside the market store, a former flower shop operated by the Berghaus family, dating back to 1889. Open on Wednesdays from 3 to 6 p.m. during the growing season, the store serves as a very low-priced outlet for crops grown on Cleveland Roots’ Richfield Township farm, as well as a distribution point for free food gathered as part of the Stone Soup CLE project. (Winter hours are under consideration.) “No one is ever turned away for lack of money,” said Maria. “It’s a ‘pay as you can’ system.”

For those of us who took part in the tour, it seemed clear that our grant money, as proposed and awarded, did indeed help the organization expand the Food & Garden Series, which welcomed between 11 and 20 students at each of six classes this summer. And as part of the compassionate, community-building program that is Cleveland Roots, the cause could not have been more worthy.

“We did a lot of classes this summer, that’s for sure,” Giovanna told us. “Your grant had legs.”

The Future of Food

‘What will we eat, and where will it come from?’ is a thru-line at the 2019 LDEI Conference

Story and photos by Elaine T. Cicora

Who doesn’t like to eat? But in a future dominated by population growth, a shrinking land supply, and the changing demographics of the American farmer, fulfilling that need may become a challenge.

In several Conference sessions, attendees received surprising insights into the future of food.

Author, Amanda Little

In a fascinating Friday session entitled The Fate of Food: An Irony of Hunger and Waste, author and journalism professor Amanda Little walked us through a central paradox: Our global population is expanding, and as people attain a more affluent lifestyle, they crave a more intensive diet. Yet the amount of arable land and global crop yields are shrinking – to the point that some experts claim that by mid-century, global warming may reach the point where agriculture can no longer support the human population.

While that is a terrifying conclusion, Amanda has spent years investigating the realities. The result is her book, The Fate of Food, a text that explores the intersection of environment and technology and finds reasons for hope.

After more than 5 years of international reporting on “new normalities” like shifting seasons, warming waters, insect and disease infestations, and the profound disruptions in production that are facing growers all over the world, Amanda has concluded that the thru-line is climate change. “Climate change is something we can taste,” she told attendees. “This is not partisanship. Climate change is of interest to anyone who eats.”

Of course, there is an additional paradox to consider: While agriculture is highly vulnerable to climate change, it is also its major driver. Among its impacts, agriculture uses more than 70 percent of the world’s fresh water; one-third of the world’s grain goes toward feeding livestock; agro-chemicals contribute to greenhouse gases and decimate beneficial insect populations; and even the very fact of tilling the soil releases carbon into the air. The result, Amanda says, is that technology has “real motivation” to find some solutions.

On the horizon are things like an AI weeder, which can kill tiny weeds with a small but intense blast of fertilizer; “toilet to tap” processes that yield drinkable water from treated sewage; “smart water networks” that use nanotechnology to find and repair pipe leaks; nutrition pellets created by 3-D printers; and cell-based meats, an outgrowth of medical research, that are grown in laboratories

At the same time, the author notes, many of us are deeply skeptical of technology’s ability to solve the problems: Historical fixes, after all, have led us to a landscape dominated by agro-chemicals, GMOs, monoculture, and preserved convenience foods. No surprise we are deep in a period of “food nostalgia,” that has launched everything from agro-tourism to a renaissance in backyard gardening
“There is so much we can learn from the past,” Amanda said, especially when it comes to things like ways to build healthy, resilient soils. But, as many of us realize, the chances of each family growing enough food to be self-sustaining are slim.

So what is the way forward? “It is not tech,” the author told us. “And it is not Little House on the Prairie.” But there is a third path, she says, that integrates the best of both worlds and can help solve the coming problems.

From left, Peggy Marchetti Madison, Kia Jarmon,
Dame Sylvia Ganier, and Caroline McDonald

On Saturday, in a panel discussion entitled Women on the Farm: Creativity and Agro-tourism, attendees heard from three farmers and one communications pro – women, all – who are forging that path.

Dame Sylvia Gainer, owner of the 350-acre Green Door Gourmet organic farm outside Nashville, served as moderator and opened the presentation with some vital statistics: According to the USDA, the average farmer is white, male and 59 years old.

Change, however, is coming in the form of female farmers; in fact, Sylvia said, one-third of all new farmers are women. Joining Sylvia were Caroline McDonald, who operates a half-acre, intensely planted, no-till market garden; Peggy Marchetti Madison, who owns 38 acres, with 6 in flower production; and Kia Jarmon, PR and communications pro in Nashville.

Thanks to the local food movement, the growth of farmers’ markets, and the boom in agro-tourism, the skills of female farmers are now in great demand, the speakers agreed. Most especially, women’s ability to tell the stories behind the food is enormously important, particularly in light of educating non-farmers in the nutritional, culinary and sustainability aspects of locally grown products.

“We are naturally storytellers,” Kia explained. “But it matters how we tell our stories and that we don’t discount our achievements. Our message should not just be, ‘I have a garden,’ but, ‘I am feeding my children, I am working against climate change.’”

Women also need to take back the narrative, the panelists agreed. For instance, while male commodity farmers usually get the most attention, it is women who have traditionally grown the food and medicine. “What fed my family growing up was the half-acre garden that my mom and grandma had,” said Peggy. “Women have always been farmers; they just called us gardeners.”

The panelists suggested a variety of ways to support emerging female farmers. Among them:

• Stop denigrating farming as a “bad job choice” for young people. Instead assure young women that, with mentoring, they will find farming to be “a wonderful way to make living,” and “an economically viable career choice.”
• Amend laws to help keep family farms in the family.
• Help ensure women have equitable access to land and money.
• Remember that, when it comes to acreage and equipment, bigger is not always better. “You don’t need a lot of fancy stuff; you just need to do what you do best,” said Peggy.
• •And finally, respect female farmers’ expertise. “When you go to the farmers’ market, talk to the female farmers,” said Peggy. “They are the ones with the knowledge. They’re the ones whose butts are off the tractor and whose hands are in the dirt.”

LDEI Cleveland kicks off the new year with a tour of Green City Growers

By Cynthia Eakin | Photos by Shara Bohach

The LDEI Cleveland Chapter began the new year with a Jan. 11 tour of Green City Growers, a 3.25-acre hydroponic greenhouse and the largest urban greenhouse in the country.

The host and tour guide was Jeremy Lisy, National Sales Manager for Green City Growers. Lisy noted that Green City Growers is a branch of Evergreen Cooperatives of Cleveland. Evergreen Cooperatives helps to create green jobs and economic stability in low-wealth neighborhoods.

The state-of-the-art, industry-certified hydroponic greenhouse in Cleveland’s Central neighborhood is situated on a 10-acre site that was once urban blight. The inner-city site, with 3.25 acres under glass, now serves as a vibrant anchor for the surrounding neighborhood.

Opened in 2012, the Green City Growers greenhouse is engineered and constructed to grow specialty greens prized by chefs, restaurants and retail clients. Rather than growing in soil, the greens float on pools of nutrient-enriched water. That enables a quicker growth cycle as well as producing tastier produce, appreciated by farm-to-table enthusiasts. During the winter, energy-efficient grow lights are used to maintain production. The carefully controlled environment in the greenhouse allows produce to be grown twelve months a year, to meet customers’ demand for the freshest product.

The hydroponic greenhouse is industry-certified by PRIMUS/GFS, a leading name in global food safety. That means that Green City Growers meets the highest quality standards for food safety for hydroponic produce.

Lisy said that specialty greens currently being grown in the greenhouse include Upland cress, mixed greens, butter lettuce, NuFar basil, red butter lettuce and Cleveland Crisp. The greens grow from seed to harvest in 35 to 40 days. Lisy noted that the greenhouse produces about three million heads of lettuce annually and 300,000 pounds of basil. It supplies restaurants and some grocers as far away from Cleveland as Indianapolis. Clients include Kroger, Meijer, Aldi and the Northeast Ohio Marc’s chain of stores. Green City Growers also operates a produce stand at Cleveland’s historic West Side Market.

Green City Growers functions as a cooperative, with its business model getting noticed around the world, according to Lisy. He said that it is currently at about 90 percent of its profit potential but, as soon as it becomes completely profitable, it will be turned over to the 34 greenhouse employees. Lisy said that they have commissioned studies that show most of the employees spend the money they earn within 10 miles of their workplace, meaning the profit comes full circle and stays in the community.

“If we can make this greenhouse business model work in Cleveland with our shorter and darker winter days, we can put this model out there to work all over the country,” Lisy concluded.

REAP the Benefit 2015 - “Night on the Farm”

By Cynthia Schuster Eakin | Photo By Eric Eakin

REAP the Benefit 2015, “Night on the Farm” welcomed 350 guests into the Ohio City Farm to benefit The Refugee Response in Northeast Ohio.

Cleveland Dames Paula Hershman, Marla Monzo Holmes, Maggie Harrison, Shara Bohach, and Carol Hacker lended their hands as volunteers throughout the evening.

The Refugee Response empowers refugees to become self-sufficient and contributing members of their new community. Services offered by The Refugee Response include home tutoring, an academic scholarship program and the Refugee Empowerment Agricultural Program (REAP). Managing sites at both the Ohio City Farm and Urban Community School, the organization employs farm trainees. These trainees have cultivated and distributed more than 20,000 pounds of produce and have supported the weekly delivery of food to 119 community supported agriculture (CSA) members this past year. Produce grown on the farms is available to trainees and their families, donated to hunger centers, sold on-site at a retail stand and purchased by contract from a host of local restaurants.

Several of the chef and restaurant partners attended the “Night on the Farm” to prepare seasonal cuisine. Music and dance was provided by members of Cleveland’s Bhutanese and Burmese communities. The highlight of the evening was the introduction of Arun Gandhi, grandson of Mahatma Gandhi, who has dedicated his life’s work to spreading the philosophy of non-violence. A journalist, activist, author and “peace farmer,” Arun Gandhi’s work in social and economic justice has touched millions throughout the world.

Touring Chateau Hough Vineyards and BioCellar

By Elaine Cicora
Photos by Shara Bohach

Nearly 20 Dames and guests paid a July 14 visit to Chateau Hough, the ambitious urban-agriculture project of journalist and community activist Mansfield Frazier.

Settled at the intersection of East 66^th and Hough, the reclaimed property is home to nearly 300 vines growing red and white grapes. Planted in 2010, the vines were specially selected for their ability to withstand cold Ohio winters; and if the bounty of beautiful bunches hanging from the vines is any indication, they have surely acclimated to their Northern home.

Our gracious and gregarious host told us that his first wines (supplemented by grapes from other vineyards) were bottled in 2013, and earned praise from Oprah Winfrey’s O Magazine as well as snagging a second-place ribbon in the Great Geauga County Fair. While the wine is currently made off site, plans call for eventually transforming a nearby abandoned building into a working winery. We enjoyed samples of both the red and white wines. As Mr. Frazier joked, “No wine snobs allowed! It’s all so subjective, just drink what you like!”

We also got a tour of the one-room biocellar, a beautifully constructed, below-grade space built on the foundation of an abandoned home. The first of its kind in Ohio, the biocellar uses passive solar heating to maintain a steady year ‘round temperature; the addition of a rain garden and water-recycling system keeps large quantities of runoff out of the city sewers. Although plans originally called for growing mushrooms in the biocellar, Mr. Frazier says that tests have shown the space is too airtight, and that mushroom spores in the air could create health hazards. Currently tests are underway to determine what crops can be safely grown in the space.

As impressive as all of this is, the real story, we learned, is that Chateau Hough is a nonprofit organization with a mission to improve the economic health of the neighborhood. Mr. Frazier’s goals are to foster urban food production; employ local residents with disadvantaged backgrounds; and re-purpose vacant homes and idle urban lots to create wealth-building opportunities. As the venture begins to make money, Mr. Frazier hopes to turn the property into a cooperative, turning over ownership of the facilities to the workers. Meantime, vineyard construction and maintenance, along with various learning programs, has provided work for many neighborhood residents.

Following the tour and discussion, most of the membership headed to Li Wah for dinner. The food, the service and the fellowship was wonderful, and another fine Les Dames event was enjoyed by all present.

Mid-Winter Update on the Usage of the Les Dames d'Escoffie​r Cleveland Green Tables Grant Funds

With the generous grant funds awarded to the Farm Food Program at CWRU Farm, we have been able to undertake much of the work that was referenced in our proposal.

Funds allowed us to purchase materials for our new cold frames. Several have been built, planted in, harvested from and used to teach students from the Cleveland Municipal School District about eating locally and season-extension in Northeast Ohio. We were able to install a crop of radishes with some success before the first of the polar vortices came through and took their toll. We will be planting lettuces and endives in the cold frames in the coming weeks and harvesting from them in the coming months; a full 6-8 weeks before we could normally plant and harvest the same crops without the frames. The remainder of the as of yet unbuilt frames, are scheduled to be done so before the end of the month.

The other large portion of the grant funds allowed us to upgrade and expand our hydroponics activities by purchasing new and additional grow lights. Renovations of our hydroponic system are underway and should be completed before the end of the month at which point the lights which have been purchased, will be installed and the system will be put back into use shortly thereafter.

We expect to take full advantage of the items that we were able to purchase with the grant funds and the progress that we were able to make before the end of this winter season. These additions and improvements to our existing program should serve us for many years to come.

I am happy to be able to report on our progress and look forward to answering any questions and to give further updates as requested.
 
Sincerely,

Chris Bond
Farm Horticulturist/ Farm Food Program Coordinator/ Instructor at the Laura and Alvin Siegel Lifelong Learning Program
Case Western Reserve University Farm 37125 Fairmount Blvd. Hunting Valley, OH 44022

Dame du Jour: Donita Anderson

By Maria Isabella, Interview by Jennifer Wolf-Webb

Donita Anderson

Donita Anderson, executive director of the North Union Farmers Market, was first introduced to her love of food by her grandmothers. “Both my grandmothers were fine chefs,” she explains with pride. “One was Asian, one Scottish.” Chef Aliette Benson in Detroit also had a profound influence on her eventual career choice. With a degree in biology and formal training as a chef, Donita has been contributing her multiple talents to the culinary field for the past 35 years.

When not working, Donita likes to entertain by throwing impromptu dinners for family and friends. She especially enjoys improvising with great products from local markets. “A good example,” she says, “is the fresh, organic, free-range poultry from Tea Hill Farms. The stock from their chicken is unbelievably good; nothing else comes close. Once you’ve tried it, you’ll never use the stuff in the boxes again.”

Donita first heard of Les Dames d’Escoffier through Crickett Karson nearly four years ago. What does she enjoy most about her membership in this society? “Being with hardworking people,” she replies without missing a beat.

Learn more about Donita as she shares some fun and interesting insights about herself with LDEI.

What’s your favorite restaurant and what do you usually order there?  There are so many chefs in Cleveland doing great things with food. I particularly enjoy going to La Campagna, Pacific East, Crop, the Flying Fig, and Li Wah (especially for their dim sum Sundays). Another favorite is Cortez Fish Market off Longboat Key in Florida (best stone crab and Gulf shrimp around!).  But the truth is, I really do eat at home quite a bit. I enjoy preparing something different every night. If I’m not doing that, then I’m eating in Amish homes, with chef Ben Giordano (in my opinion, a genius and the best American chef), or with friends who have prepared wonderful meals using produce from our farmers’ markets.

What’s the most unusual thing you’ve ever eaten?  Balachong (aka the caviar of east Asia): a hot and spicy spread made with garlic, caramelized onions, fermented fish paste, and dry shrimp.  It’s delicious on hot toasted and buttered scali (from On the Rise Artisan Breads in Cleveland Heights).

Which one chef (living or deceased) would you want to invite over for dinner?  Sarah Leah Chase.

What is your favorite cookbook?  The Nantucket Open House Cookbook.

What is your favorite food blog?  The Pioneer Woman Cooks! by Ree Drummond.

Any favorite indulgences? Mitchell’s dark chocolate marzipan.

What’s your favorite snack? Tart dried cherries and cashews.

What’s your favorite dessert to prepare?  An almond tart with raspberry jam.

What’s the biggest cooking mistake you’ve ever made? As a sous chef at the Hilton, I made Cherries Jubilee for 500 and ran out of ice cream!

What’s one ingredient you can’t live without?  Sea of Cortez salt.

Name 3 things that are always in your refrigerator.  Eggs, milk, and butter.

Name 3 kitchen gadgets you can’t live without.  Food processor, knives, and chopsticks.