Recipe Developer for Food Network Magazine

What do you do on a daily basis?
I develop original recipes for Food Network Magazine, FN.com, videos and other content. I also taste and evaluate food all day long.

Who is your culinary icon?
Alice Waters, Suzanne Goin, Traci des Jardins, Elena Arzak — all bad-ass women chefs.

Who is your favorite food TV personality, past or present?
When I was in college I was obsessed with the Food Network. Watching Too Hot Tamales and Ready. . . Set. . . Cook! were among the reasons I wanted to cook professionally.  

What's your favorite cookbook?
It changes all the time, but right now it’s Jerusalem by Ottolenghi and Tamimi.

What dish or ingredient will we never catch you eating?
Mayonnaise. Absolutely not.

What's your favorite condiment?
A nice vinegary hot sauce. Frank's, Cholula or Louisiana.

What's the first dish you learned to make?
Pasta e Fagioli

Sweet tooth, salty tooth or both?
Salty and Spicy

What kitchen tool can't you live without?
Chef's knife

What music do you like to listen to in the kitchen?
Anything that I can sing and dance to. 

What's your favorite food scene from a movie?
I don’t know! I don’t watch many movies. 

If you weren't in food, what career would you have liked to have tried?
I always wanted to be a rock star or a novelist.

What's your favorite "food city" to visit?
I want to go everywhere and eat everything.