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take a bite...

There's a world of great tastes out there being created by incredible home cooks and professional chefs... and I want to share the kitchen with as many as I can! I'll bring you their best dishes along with my inspired interpretations and, some of my favorite personal recipes.  

We'll meet butchers from ancient mountain villages who will share their craft of sausage making; family cooks who draw daily from cultural traditions to nourish the senses and souls of their guests; and chefs who are shape-shifting what makes a great dish by using cutting edge techniques and staying at the forefront of global food trends. We'll taste, cook, travel, repeat!

see what's cooking...

The Chance of a Lifetime... All-Star Academy!

3/30/2015

1 Comment

 
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I'd dreamed about it for 4 years. Hoping, praying, auditioning, sending pictures and bios, skyping with casting directors. It wasn't the lure of being on TV that captured me so much as the lure of competing in this kind of realm. The idea of working with world class chefs, the opportunity to learn from them, for them to taste and offer critique on my food, that's what compelled me to submit and resubmit and, hope. 

Then while competing at the World Food Championships last November, and well-timed too to sooth wounds from my by-a-margin loss there, I got the call. I made it! They wanted me. ME!! My knees literally buckled. I squealed in delight. And then I talked my husband's ear off about it for the next two weeks because he was the only one I was allowed to tell. They picked ME to be on Food Network!! And, not for a 1-episode battle. They picked me to be on All-Star Academy! If I'm good enough, I might get 8 full weeks with the pros!

The turnaround time was short. Two weeks from "you made it" to my red-eye flight leaving for NYC. As I walked into the hallowed halls of the Food Network's studios, I felt a wave of emotion so palpable, so completely all-encompassing, it was as if I had won the PowerBall (or jumped out of an airplane!) I was awestruck. I was there. This home cook, who would have loved to follow her dream of becoming a certified Chef, was standing there inside the very pinnacle of cookery, the Food Network.

Ah! The test kitchen! I catch a glimpse as we walk by. How many incredible recipes have been created in that kitchen by the Chefs and FN stars whose photos adorn the hallway walls of the network. To be there, knowing that they too at some point had walked these hallways just as I was now was at once inspiring and, slightly terrifying. But that twinge of fear was only momentary and soon gave way to giddy euphoria. 

Like my fellow competitors I am here for one reason, to win. To take the title and the $50,000 prize. But I am also here to learn, to work under these Chef idols and to take my personal skills to a new level. What an opportunity! 

People like me have dreams like this. We don't always share them openly because quite frankly the odds are not in favor of them ever coming true. But this time! This time, my dream is being realized... and with every ounce of who I am and who I want to be I am going to do my best to keep it alive!

I am a very fierce competitor. I am here to win. I am a contestant on All-Star Academy!


*Stay tuned for more All-Star Academy stories coming soon.

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1 Comment
Chelsea
4/25/2015 12:35:06 pm

Hi Sharon!!
My husband and I were HUGE fans of you this season and rooted you on the whole time! While we are sad you didn't get the grand prize, you did such a fantastic job and were so fun to watch in the eight episodes you were in.
Ironically, my husband and I are huge fans of Darioush as well, and have loved getting to know your husband over the years- he is definitely an asset there and we call ourselves a part of "Frank's Friends."
Imagine our surprise to visit the tasting room and find out that two of our favorite worlds collided and were married!!! We wish you the best and if you ever reopen in Napa, you have some loyal customers in us!

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    Author: 
    Sharon Damante

    Foodie. Vinophile. Traveler. 

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