Calliope

I am a lifelong foodie and cook, and have found my way back to professional cooking after several successful careers in other industries. I now own a Personal Chef business here in Portland, Oregon called Calliope's Table. I have not attended culinary school, and owe what I know about cooking to a voracious appetite for learning what I’m interested in, and a few brief stints working in professional kitchens.

After experiencing severe burnout in a very accomplished career as a Project Manager in the software industry, I spent a couple of years traveling, eating, and meeting new people in new places. I realized that it was really all about what I wanted to do in this life, not what made the most money or impressed people the most. And that for me is spending a lot of my time in kitchens, making great food, and feeding people. I've found that standing in front of a stove or a prep table is the best office I've ever had.

My first cooking job was in high school as a delivery driver, then prep cook, line cook, and finally night manager for a take-out pizza restaurant. Starting back at cooking in my late 40’s it did not seem possible to take a traditional path to get to my goals of becoming a Chef, so I did what I have done before, and immersed myself in cooking. I am self-taught at most of the things I've done and have been a life-long learner, so I began reading any culinary book I could get my hands on, cooked wherever and whenever I got the chance, and feel I have become a competent cook. My management skills and soft skills from other jobs have given me most of the non-cooking skills that a Chef needs, and I love working anywhere in the front or back of the house.

As much as I wish I'd had continued on with cooking when I left the pizza place and headed off to college to get a "real job", I have no regrets. My life has been full, and I believe the many wonderful experiences I've had along the way and the many opportunities I've had to learn new things are what gives me the love I have of food and people, and the talent I think I have to be successful as a Chef.

I am excited about the development of the Personal Chef industry, and feel it is the perfect match for me and what I like to do, and the skills I bring to it. I still love to work the occasional shift in a restaurant kitchen when I get the chance. There is something I find about working in a busy kitchen that really feeds my soul in a way no other job ever has. Maybe it's the pace, the challenge, the cooking, or just knowing you are part of something that no one who has not experienced it can begin to understand. For all the rewards and punishments it brings, I am grateful to be a cook. As I've heard it said, "You don't choose cooking, it chooses you".

And every now and then I still wonder, "What if I'd gone to the CIA...?"