Le Cordon Bleu Professionally Trained Featured on the Food Network & ABC News Specializing In All Cuisines MY BIO In November 2005 Jennifer Story received top honors upon completion from the Southern California School of Culinary Arts Le Cordon Bleu Program in Pasadena, CA. During her time there she developed recipes and cooked for the school's main cafe as well as their fine dining restaurant Bistro 561. She was also awarded the title of head chef instructor’s aid for the baking & pâtisserie program where she assisted chefs with their daily in-class demonstrations, taught and mentored over 40 students a day with their in-class recipe productions and assignments, and developed and revised recipes for the baking and pâtisserie curriculum. To further her culinary skills while in school, Jennifer cooked at the fine dining restaurant Chez Mélange at the Palos Verdes Inn in Redondo Beach, CA where her duties included developing recipes and menus, cooking for on and off site special events, banquets, caterings, and wine dinners, teaching private cooking classes, assisting the owner/executive chef with private parties, and cooking with high-profile chefs at the annual anniversary party for over 500 people at the Norris Pavilion in Palos Verdes, CA. After graduating from culinary school and working heavily in the restaurant industry, Jennifer decided to turn down a different avenue in the food world. She became involved in the entertainment side as a food stylist in Hollywood, CA. As a food stylist she designed, cooked, and styled dishes for celebrity cookbooks for high-profile clients such as Jorge Cruise and Juan-Carlos Cruz also known as the “Calorie Commando”, name brand commercials including Marie’s salad dressing, infomercials including the Magic Bullet, local news segments for KABC and KTLA, network television shows such as the Tyra Banks Show, website recipes and recipe development for major food companies such as Cacique cheese, grocery store brochures and ads for such popular chains as Bristol Farms, Whole Foods, and Trader Joe’s, healthy lifestyle and “superfoods” campaigns with Dr. Steven Pratt, and numerous high-end photo shoots for leading corporations including Panda Express. She was also given the responsibility of backstage kitchen culinary producer on various major cooking shows, commercials, and infomercial television productions. Jennifer also aided in the research and production of a few books including one on how to become a personal chef and another on how to throw an affordable wedding with great food. Previous to her involvement in the culinary industry, Jennifer graduated in May 2003 from the University of Southern California where she received two degrees: one in Business Administration emphasis in Marketing, Product/Brand Management and the other in Communications emphasis in Broadcast Journalism. To help break into the entertainment industry while in school, she interned at ABC and Fox Sports Net as a production assistant for some of their popular network television shows including the NFL’s Monday Night Live. Once she fulfilled her internships, she became a reporter for USC’s Annenberg T.V. News as well as the Daily Trojan newspaper. Jennifer then took what she learned there and became a reporter for the local cable station Torrance Citi-Cable Channel 3 where she gained further knowledge of in-depth on-camera skills as well as how to direct, produce, edit, and write her very own news stories. Upon graduating from USC, Jennifer became greatly involved in the entertainment sports industry and went on to become the top account executive two consecutive seasons for the Los Angeles Clippers NBA team and then the Los Angeles Avengers AFL team. For both franchises she developed marketing and advertising schemes, headed up promotions at all games and special events, and worked one-on-one with corporations, small businesses, private groups, individual clients and fans in ticket sales and customer service. Jennifer currently resides in Redondo Beach, CA and now gives her heart and soul to her own business “Cookin’ Thyme” as a personal chef. She develops and designs recipes and menus, cooks food in her clients’ homes for custom weekly meal plans, private cocktail and dinner parties, special occasions and events, corporate functions, and private in-home cooking lessons as well as consults for recipe and menu development. Jennifer still cooks for and supervises special events, banquets, caterings, and wine dinners for Chez Mélange as well as designs 5-course menus and recipes for and teaches hands-on and demo-only cooking classes at the Chez Mélange School of Food & Wine. She also cooks for and supervises special events, banquets, and caterings for Gaetano’s Italian Bistro, Occasions Special Events, and the Los Angeles Yacht Club. Jennifer served as lead chef instructor at the South Bay School of Cooking in Manhattan Beach where she designed recipes, menus, and curriculum and taught hands-on cooking classes for both adult and kids courses. She assists in the kitchens of private chefs for various high-profile individuals such as Johnny Depp, caters meals and provides craft service behind the scenes of numerous television productions for all crew and talent, and occasionally still finds herself dabbling in food styling for certain projects such as the Tyra show. Jennifer’s mother Bernadette and brother Jason are integral parts of her business and aid in the production of numerous events. Jennifer’s love of cooking food, entertaining people, and teaching others her knowledge of culinary arts are the three passions which motivated her to start her personal chef business “Cookin’ Thyme!” The Cookin’ Thyme Crew... Is Ready To Serve You! “THE PERSONAL CHEF WITH A PERSONAL TOUCH!” REDONDO BEACH, CA
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