Since many of you have been asking about solutions for tasty, healthy, and time-sensitive meals, we found a possible solution for you.  Enter 0700 rockstar and professional cook, Melissa Fernandez.  She has made herself available for any requests/projects, large or small!  Not only is Melissa an incredible chef, she is also one of the sweetest mamas we know.

For those of you who don’t know Melissa, here is a short autobiography:

“Experience-  I’ve been working as a professional cook since 1995.  I started working as a cook in NYC. After 7 years, I decided to take a break from the city and move to the Bay Area to work at Chez Panisse for 1 year.  I fell in love with California (and my husband!) and I’ve been here for 7 years, working at Chez Panisse in both the Cafe & the Restaurant.

Food philosophy-  The most important thing that I’ve learned in my career is that we must not only take care of ourselves but we must take care of Mother Earth.  Maybe I think about this more now that I have a beautiful little girl that will be inheriting this land from us.  I support local organic, sustainable farms, fisheries and ranches.  Food nourishes your body and your soul.  I think it’s important to eat wholesome foods made with seasonal ingredients. I also think it’s important to splurge (without compromise…) every now and then with a great bottle of wine and a juicy ribeye steak!!

What I like to cook-  I love to travel. Learning new customs and cultures, meeting new people, discovering different foods.  I made sure to travel before motherhood hit full force and I like to take inspiration from that.  I’ve spent time in Cuba, Mexico, Argentina, Brazil, Costa Rica, Spain, Greece, Italy, Portugal, Vietnam, Thailand and Cambodia…. and I can’t wait until Isa is a little older to continue the adventures.  Such different cuisine in all these places; but, the one constant is that in their everyday food, they all focus on simplicity and freshness.

My latest adventure- teaching cooking classes to individuals or small groups, catering dinner parties, consulting with clients on a meal plan and either cooking in their home or dropping off prepared foods at their home.”

Please contact info@icechamber.com if you are interested in having Melissa’s help with any of your culinary needs!

This entry was posted on Thursday, April 2nd, 2009 at GMT and is filed under Community Highlights, Food, People. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can skip to the end and leave a response. Pinging is currently not allowed.