I’m writing this first blog after a couple of years being out of the Private Chef profession. My whole career since I was a 15-year-old kid washing dishes in a family-owned restaurant in Rochester, NY, has been in private city clubs or country clubs. Actually, some of the best clubs in the country. Three platinum ranked top 50 Country Clubs, one Top 50 platinum ranked city club and The Ritz-Carlton, Naples, FL. Also, sous-chef under five different Certified Master Chefs.

I love cooking, its funny to me when I see home cooks or foodies cooking at home and they enjoy it just as much as I do but can’t do it at a professional level. Because I like showing them little tricks that make it a lot easier for what they are doing, and they get that “aha” look in their eye. Its one of the best feelings for me. Or delivering a package of food, and it just blows the client away. This is what you don’t get to see everyday when you are in the “back of the house” in a private club or restaurant.

So one day I was at work in a busy country club in the middle of the Florida busy season I got a random call from a nutritionist in Westchester, NY. Looking for a private chef. At first, I was hesitant to return the call, nowadays with so many random calls from different area codes. I returned the call and on the phone was Sarah Wragge. She explained to me the clients with a special diet and as a chef that’s the last thing you want to hear. Limits? No Gluten? No Sugar? No Grains? Oh man!!!!! What am I going to cook? After thinking about it I took the job. After all, if you are a true chef, you make people happy with food no matter what the restrictions or diet. I got to get creative with the ingredients I use. How do you make Paleo diet taste as good as food with all the “bad” stuff in it? I loved the challenge and I also really enjoyed to learn about the Paleo diet. One of the best was a Paleo pizza, being from NY I needed to come through with a real pizza, with no flour or grains. The client loved it!!!!!!

I owe my return to private chef cooking to Sarah Wragge, and this is an ode to her. It shows what a great person, mom, wife and nutritionist she really is. I saw an Instagram post with a gentleman who lost a ton of weight and looked great all thanks to her and the best part in the caption was he never even met her!!!! How one person has enough influence to change someone’s feelings about themselves is a gift. Even though I haven’t lost any weight yet. I am excited to pursue this new endeavor in my life. It makes me truly happy to do this. I guess I’m just another person she has influenced without ever even meeting. If you would like to contact her it is www.sarahwragge.com or @sarahwragge on Instagram.