My family always cooked a lot. My...

My family always cooked a lot. My mother is Italian, and my father is mostly German, but in cooking we mostly followed my mother’s side. We were making pasta from the time we were kids. We’d go over to my grandfather’s house for dinner, especially on holidays. We’d sit down at the table to eat, and we’d get up and clear off all the dishes, and then he’d take out all the food again and say let’s have a snack. That’s what holidays were: eating, eating, eating.

I was always around food, and I had an interest in food but I didn’t think about it as a career till after my brother went away to the Culinary Institute of America in New York. I visited him there and saw what it was like. But I needed some experience to show on my application to get admitted.

So I went to work for the Machus Co. They have several restaurants and bakery shops, and I worked for them off and on from the time I was 18 to 24 years old. The Machus Red Fox is known as the last place Jimmy Hoffa was seen alive.

At first I was a preparation cook, and what the guys jokingly called a “salad wench.” But I worked my way up. Machus was opening a new restaurant, and the manager noticed my skills, and he took me over there as a line cook.

I also worked in their bakery. Machus made all their own breads and pastries for the restaurants. That’s where I learned pastry and large-scale production. During the holiday season, I’d come in a 3 a.m. and make tortes all day long. I liked the strawberry tortes and the chocolate mousse ones. I’d be making 10 tortes at a time. We had racks and racks of cakes. I’d lay out eight to 10 across the table, and I’d be icing and decorating them. I’d send those out and do it again.

I quickly lost interest in eating them. I’d crave a piece of beef so bad. The last thing I’d want to do is eat something sweet. My arms would just feel sticky from the whipped cream. My shoes would be covered with chocolate crumbs and chocolate ganache. I’d get ganache on my nylons too. We used to have to wear nylons and a short-sleeved white nurse’s uniform. Mr. Machus was an old guy who thought women should be in a dress. But, after I graduated I went back to them as a chef, and I got rid of the dress.

The key to making a pastry is understanding that, when you make a dough, the products fluctuate. The butters, the flours, the moisture in the air all affect the dough. When you make bread you know when you touch it whether you need to add more water or less than normal. You can make chocolate chip cookies four times, and each time they’ll be different. It’s the difference between turning out cookies that look like pancakes or little bullets.

I moved to California after my parents bought a condominium here. I was hired first as a pastry chef at the Horton Grand and worked my way up to night executive chef. The a.m. executive chef does breakfast and lunch, and I do dinner. I write the menus for the dining room and bar, and I oversee the work of five or six cooks, all men.

I check the soups, sauces and other foods on the line as they’re being made. When we get busy, I join the line. I also do a lot of ordering. One day, I might order 8 pounds of scallops, 20 pounds of crab, 20 to 30 pounds of fish, a case of lettuce, and a case of broccoli. We can also go through 1,800 eggs in a week depending on how big the brunches are.

The scones we have at tea are my creation. It’s a very small thing, but in its way is very important. We have a Victorian high tea where we serve scones. At first I didn’t know what scones were. I thought they were like biscuits so I was making biscuits. Our tea lady is English, and she would say, “It’s more like a cake, love.”

One day by chance, I had eggnog in the kitchen, and I had to use it up, so I put it in the scones. Our tea lady came to me one day after that and said, “I don’t know what you did, but those are the best scones I’ve ever had.”

I started laughing. Then I wrote a recipe from that, and we’ve been having them ever since. This is how some recipes are made. It was very spur of the moment and spontaneous. You don’t think about it too much.

I cook a lot at home for roommates and friends. They’ll come home late, so I’ll cook grilled lamb chops or pasta with sausage and a Caesar salad and serve it at midnight. It is very bizarre. People ask me what my hobbies are, and I say cooking is my hobby.