I have been an instructor at the Natural Gourmet Institute for Food and Culinary Arts for more than 15 years. During this time, I have also worked cooking privately for numerous families in New York City, the Hamptons and Palm Beach. A few of my notable clients have been the composer, Stephen Sondheim and the Kennedy family in Hyannis Port, Mass.

During these 15 years, I took leave from my teaching responsibilities from time to time to earn a diploma in culinary arts and culinary management at the Institute of Culinary Education in New York City.

I worked for a few years at Tabla Restaurant in NYC with Chef Floyd Cardoz learning his unique style of Indian fusion cooking.

I have always loved Indian cooking with its wonderful complexity and use of strong flavors and spices. In 2001, I worked for a full year in India cooking in an ashram. a yoga-meditation retreat, in the foothills of the Himalayas in northern India. It was a very fulfilling time as I had been a longtime student of Ayurveda, the Indian Science of Life, for the past 25 years.

Food as nourishment, food as medicine, as enjoyment, as art and science, have been a part of my life for a long time. I have always remembered good food around me since my mother’s Friday night homemade pizza dinners or my grandmother’s daily apple or my great grandmother’s farm in upstate New York and her homemade ravioli.

I love all kinds of food from all countries. I love fresh, whole foods, fruits and vegetables. freshly caught fish and organic meats, and of course, everyday I take a piece of dark chocolate for my heart and soul.