What do you do on a daily basis?
I oversee the team that takes care of the food needs for about 15 shows, caters events in the kitchen, food-styles for photo shoots, develops recipes for Food Network Kitchens, sets show hosts up at local talk shows, preps and styles for vignettes, and many other projects. I also create the menus for our catered events, food-style photo shoots and co-blend entwine, as well as travel the country in support of it.

Who is your culinary icon?
Wolfgang Puck

Who is your favorite food TV personality, past or present?
Julia Child and The Galloping Gourmet

What’s your favorite cookbook?
Jean-Louis Palladin's Cooking with the Seasons or Rick Bayless' Authentic Mexican

What dish or ingredient will we never catch you eating?
Durian

What’s your favorite condiment?
Hoisin sauce

What’s the first dish you learned to make?
Brownies

Sweet tooth, salty tooth or both?
Both

What kitchen tool can’t you live without?
Besides my chef's knife, a rasp grater

What music do you like to listen to in the kitchen?
Modern or classic rock, as long as it has a good beat

What’s your favorite food scene from a movie?
Toss-up: the timpano from Big Night or the scene from Diner where the guy is eating the entire left side of the menu. (My favorite TV scene is the chocolate shop in I Love Lucy.)

What’s your favorite alcoholic beverage?
Single-malt scotch

If you weren’t in food, what career would you have liked to have tried?
Bison rancher

What’s your favorite “food city” to visit?
In the United States, Los Angeles. In Europe, Florence.