My path to private chef started at sixteen, at the pot sink of a scratch kitchen in an area diner under the watchful eye of a seasoned chef and his professional staff. Nineteen found me graduating from The Culinary Institute of America and taking my first cook position at a restaurant and banquet house in Pittsburgh PA.
The gardener in me came alive in my twenties. My first home was accompanied with a large garden that had been neglected for many years. My young back and a rake uncovered a small Eden beneath the huge magnolia, pieris, azalea. Forgotten roses hidden by a massive thorned mock orange. Errant iris and daffodil outlined the memory of a perennial border. I married not long after. It was during the honeymoon Barbara and I spent a long day at the Montreal Botanical Gardens. I’ll admit I returned home with two loves. Both blossomed on that tree lined street.
