About Me: The Extended Version

Hey everyone. I’ll be using this blog space for whatever is on my mind. I hope it helps you find inspiration, understand more about me, or discover something new! I have a lot of passions, but cooking is right up there at the top. So, expect to find plenty of info on new vegan or vegetarian eats in Houston (or wherever in the world Carmen San Diego is 😊 ). You'll also find new health info I’ve discovered that might help you. Plus, deep dives into nerdy stuff like mineral water (don’t get me started).

But I thought I’d start by talking a bit about myself. I want to share how I ended up here, writing a blog on a website for my personal chef services.

I’ll start in reverse so as not to give you a full prehistoric history lesson.

My husband and I moved to Houston in the summer of 2023. Yes, the hottest summer on record. Baptism by fire! Honestly, I didn’t mind the heat. We had a real purpose for being here: we wanted to live debt-free. We also sought an affordable place where we could each pursue our passions without the need for two big incomes, handcuffed to working jobs that we only sort of liked. But pursuing your passions is hard! You need money, time, inspiration, and guts. Making the move to Houston set us up with many of these things. The move alone was a big change for two people who had lived in one state their entire lives.

You see, we’re both from California (cue eye rolls). Yes, we’re among the seemingly millions of other Californians who moved to Texas during the aftermath of the pandemic. I’d like to think all of those other Californians also had realizations about their lifestyles – expensive, no room for exploration and adventure, and “why are we doing this” moments – that caused them to pick up and move to Texas, too. Houston is still relatively affordable, has an international airport, has an incredible culture and food, and doesn’t have any snow. For us, it just really made sense.

The day we sold our California beach house to move to Texas.

Now onto the passions thing – I want to cook. I have always enjoyed cooking. Maybe, I enjoy eating even more. During the pandemic, I realized I wanted to cook every day for people who appreciated the meals, not just for myself. You see, during the pandemic, when everyone was sent home from their offices, I realized I was spending a lot of time doing a lot of nothing. Wake up, coffee, walk the dog, work in my pajamas, wine, trashy TV, and sleep. Do it again. I needed something to keep me going, to fulfill a creativity I was longing for. I felt this need to do something that energized my soul.

Honestly, I don’t remember how I came across the Food Future Institute, but it was life-changing for me. This cooking school was entirely plant-based, a lifestyle I’d been living since my early 20s. A cooking school that was typically only offered in person in Venice Beach, CA was now going online to stay afloat. This gave me a chance to learn from a world-renowned vegan chef while still working full-time. I wouldn't have to take a giant leap. I could grab onto the next monkey bar without letting go of the one that was keeping me afloat (my day job), and it would give me some daily purpose. I had no idea how challenging and all-consuming it would be for the next year and a half.

My first day of cooking school, learning knife skills.

I woke up early to take my lessons. During lunch breaks, I prepped assignments. I worked late into the night, making all kinds of things. I made pistachio and sunflower seed nut milks, fermented soy sauces, kimchi, and kombucha. I also made nut cheeses that would need to age for weeks, and homemade pastas, breads, and donuts. I even made vegan caviar. I was obsessed, and my husband would call me the mad scientist in the kitchen. My underlying thought: if people only knew how amazing plant-based food could be, we could make anyone a believer. I could be part of that change – to healthier humans, less animal cruelty, and a smaller environmental footprint. I felt called to it.

Macadamia & pumpkin seed milk - a revelation!

So, I started hosting dinner parties with my newfound knowledge. I invited my family, my meat-eating neighbors, and my friends who are skeptical of veganism. They probably wish I would just stop talking about it. My Instagram feed was proudly filled with images of my creations. How do you know if someone is vegan? They’ll tell you. And all in all, my test subjects were impressed and loved it.

But, I didn’t want to work at a restaurant. Been there, done that, for too many years in college. I still get nightmares about it. So, I helped a friend with his catering company work, but I didn’t like that much either. I couldn’t see myself serving my specialty meals at scale. Even he complained that he didn’t really get to service the quality of food and ingredients that he’d wanted to.

I didn’t think about being a personal chef until, again by chance, I came across a woman offering online personal chef business courses. For free, she taught me everything I needed to know to start this business of my dreams, and I finally took the leap to start my own business in January, 2024. I posted a Craigslist ad, built a website, and decided it was now or never. Regret scares the hell out of me, and I live every day with the notion that life is short. I moved to a new state; I could do this, too.

So here I am, amazed at myself a little bit, and ready to share my passion with the world. I hope my cooking creates a little more peace on this planet, as hippie-dippie as that sounds. Animals deserve better, we deserve better, and our planet deserves better. And, we can be part of the solution just by what we put on our plates.

Maybe next week, I’ll talk a little more about when and why I became a vegan. Then a vegetarian. Then a pescatarian. Then a vegetarian. Then a vegan again. Health and wellness is a journey, after all, and when you know better, you do better.

Cheers!