Growing up I stayed out of the kitchen when my mother or grandmother would cook. I cooked here and baked there from childhood to young adult. I chose this career and that career but nothing would really stick. It wasn't until I had to raise money for my child's fundraiser that I found my true passion. For this fundraiser I baked pound cakes. The joy and fulfillment I received was life changing. So much so, I later enrolled in culinary school and graduated Magna Cum Laude from Johnson & Wales University.

Three months after graduating from culinary school my mother passed. It was upon her death that I realized my passion for food has been with me all along. Although, I did not cook along the side of her growing up. I watched her. In her kitchen my mother was creative, consistent, and not afriad to try new things. Just great at what she did, an executive at her craft. Food brings people together and she was good at doing so. When people knew that she was in the kitchen, they knew they were going to eat goood. The kitchen was her territory and she liked it that way. When she wanted her free time and no one to bother her she would say “the kitchen is closed". We still laugh about that today. I am often told that I am just like my mother. When I am in the kitchen whether for personal or for business I remember my mother, Alice Carol Spool. I feel her presence while I cook as if she is working alongside of me and I also say..." the kitchen is closed."