Getting my start......

You know its really funny when I look back at how I became a Chef. When I was three I told my mom that I wanted to be one! My dad was a chef, his brother was a chef, and so was my grandmother on my dad's side. So I guess you could say it runs in my veins! My sister is an awesome cook, and my mom has been known to make a mean meal herself!

But having it in your blood isn't enough! You have to learn somewhere. Well...in 1991, I was in 1st grade, and my mom had a good friend named Barbara who was starting cooking classes in her home on the weekends. So I enrolled, along with Barbara's daughter's and her son, and we sat around her kitchen table learning how to make scones, cornish game hens, and green punch for St. Patricks! After we cooked, we would watch TV and eat mint chocolate chip icecream...then take our laminated recipe sheets home with us.

Well....fast forward to present day, and that little cooking school has grown into a full blown franchise known as "Batter Up Kids culinary school". I am so impressed by what Barbara has done with her business.

Now what made me think about this school? Well, I was watching food network the other night (BIG SHOCKER! lol), and lo and behold, there is Barbara Berry on Alton Brown's "Good Eats"! I almost cried! A whole serge of emotion came over me of how proud I was of her, and how cool it was that her little cooking school in her home kitchen is what turned me into the Chef that I am today!

So I thought I would share the awesome news with all of you so you can check her out! Look up the Batter Up kids website HERE, and check out her cookbooks HERE.

And a huge special thank you to Barbara! If you hadn't encouraged me so long ago to learn knife skills, teach me how to cook cookies, and the ever famous Cornish Hen, which by the way is still one of my favorite recipes, I might not be the Gourmet Momma today! I love you Barbara, or should I say, Mrs. Berry! :)