My reasons for becoming a chef are somewhat of a cliche. I always loved to eat but it was watching my parents cook that really served as the impetus for my career choice. Alexandra Guarnaschelli More Quotes by Alexandra Guarnaschelli More Quotes From Alexandra Guarnaschelli Winter blues are cured every time with a potato gratin paired with a roast chicken. Alexandra Guarnaschelli potatoes chickens winter I think we love bacon because it has all the qualities of an amazing sensory experience. When we cook it, the sizzling sound is so appetizing, the aroma is maddening, the crunch of the texture is so gratifying and the taste delivers every time. Alexandra Guarnaschelli quality sound thinking Food is ever-changing and ever moving forward and getting more and more complex. Alexandra Guarnaschelli complexes moving-forward moving Creative risks will always outweigh technical mistakes. Alexandra Guarnaschelli risk creative mistake The best way to learn to cook is to do some serious eating. Alexandra Guarnaschelli serious way chef Food is so heavily connected to memory. Alexandra Guarnaschelli connected memories Give yourself enough time to really learn how to cook. Alexandra Guarnaschelli enough-time enough giving I bent my head over a stove in my early 20s and picked it up in my 30s. Alexandra Guarnaschelli early-20s stoves bent For me no good food is illuminated without acidity. Alexandra Guarnaschelli good-food The better the ingredients, the more farmers I can buy from, the closer I feel to the food I want to make that represents what I care about as a chef. Alexandra Guarnaschelli ingredients care want My father always said, 'If you love what you do, you won't mind slogging through it for several hours a day. Alexandra Guarnaschelli hours mind father I don't show just anyone how to crust a sea bass. That's sacred information. Alexandra Guarnaschelli bass information sea I find myself hoping I can get on a TV show, and then people from Oklahoma will come to my restaurant. Then I'll be able to make enough money to open my own place. Alexandra Guarnaschelli tv-shows oklahoma people I used to sleep with the phone right by my pillow but I'm getting better. Now it sits on the table a few feet away. Alexandra Guarnaschelli phones feet sleep If I want my daughter to try something, I eat it in front of her repeatedly without forcing the issue and, with some trial and error, the world is our oyster! Alexandra Guarnaschelli oysters daughter mother The hardest thing about being a full time chef is leaving my work behind when I go home at night. I'll toss and turn about a menu item or forget to order produce and wake up at 4 A.M. in a cold sweat over some artichokes. Alexandra Guarnaschelli home night order The hardest thing for me is restraint. Alexandra Guarnaschelli hardest-thing restraint hardest It's amazing the relationships you forge in a kitchen. When you cooperate in an environment that's hot. Where there's a lot of knives. You're trusting your well-being with someone you've never before met or known. Alexandra Guarnaschelli kitchen knives hot If you want to have a relationship, at some point you have to let yourself get caught. That's what I did. I got caught. Alexandra Guarnaschelli caught ifs want I woke up on May 15, 1991, the day of my Barnard graduation, and I said to myself, 'By the end of today you will decide what you want to do with the rest of your life.' Alexandra Guarnaschelli want may graduation
