Q: What sparked your interest in cooking?
A: It was a show called Ready... Set... Cook! There were two chefs, ingredients, someone from the audience to help them cook, with 18 minutes to make two or three portions. So, it was a fun show to watch and I started to watch it on a regular basis. Then I would go into my own kitchen and just sort of experiment with what tasted good to me and would use those techniques. I've never taken a cooking class, nothing like that.
Q: What took place after you found out you were going to be on The Rosie O'Donnell Show?
A: In November of 2000 we went to New York City, and I taped my episode on The Rosie O'Donnell Show. Prior to that, I was asked if there are any particular chefs that I like -- and I said that I watch a lot of Emeril. I went on the taping of the show ... and I hear music starting to play, and I looked up, and running down the stairs in one of the aisles was Emeril. That was really exciting. And then he said, "When you're done here, why don't you come over and do my show!"
Q: Can you describe what a shift was like in a high-end restaurant kitchen?
A: Well, it came down to busier times than others. I would come down and in the beginning of my shift would be a lot of prepping. ... After the prep work would be a staff meeting where they would go over the specials for the night and how many covers they had.
Q: What restaurants did you work at in Washington, D.C?
A:I worked at different restaurants in the area: Vidalia, Bistro Bis and Signatures ... I would go down there on a pretty regular basis and at service time at Signatures, sometimes I would actually work a station. It would get busy and I could handle it. It was sort of interesting that I was never really overwhelmed by the pressure.
Q:How did you actually work at these restaurants since you were technically not legally of-age to be working?
A:That was my parents' first question. The answer is, I was never paid and I was technically never working. I was just there to observe and get some hands-on training.
