Here Until I’m Not: A Memoir of a Culinary Life Journey

More than thirty years in professional kitchens taught me how to survive the pressure.

Life outside them proved harder to figure out.

At fifteen, I walked into a New York City kitchen looking for an after-school job. What followed was a life shaped by ambition, relationships, mistakes, consequences, misguided loyalty, loss, resilience, and second chances. Those experiences unfolded alongside a demanding culinary career that was always present, influencing my life both inside and outside the kitchen.

The kitchens are the backdrop. Life is the story.

Told without polishing the mistakes or pretending to have all the answers, Here Until I'm Not is about the choices we make, the people we carry with us, the things we get wrong, and what happens when enough years pass that we can finally look back without pretending we handled all of it well.

If you've ever looked back and wondered how you became the person you are now, you may find part of yourself here.