Welcome to Hunger for Spice where we aspire to encourage others to fuel their souls through seasonal food, photography, and nature.
Hi, my friend, thanks for stopping by, I am so glad you’re here!
CAPTURE YOUR CREATIVITY”
me
What You’ll Find Here
A whole lot of Baking going on! Although my degree is in culinary arts, I fell in love with baking while at culinary school.
Originally this site began as a low carb and gluten free site due to the diet was instructed to live on at the time. So, you will find most recipes fit into that category (at this point) but after five years my heart just wasn’t fully in it anymore. I wanted to create silky smooth buttercreams, luscious fillings, and decadent mousses for the specialty cakes I once had a passion for.
Of course that is not all! When I was in culinary school, I took as many baking and pastry classes as I could possibly fit into my schedule, much more than I needed to. I loved baking and pastry and wanted to get my degree in that department as well, but the money, time, and travel just more than I was willing to sacrifice.
Knowing I was certainly capable of teaching myself the things I didn’t get the chance to learn, I was okay with my decision. Heck, I knew nothing could be more difficult that learning chocolate and sugar art!
So back to the point. Introducing artisan breads and pastries to the site will be one of my top goals. They were something I never got the opportunity to learn in school, and I am all about the endless path of growing in life.
A little About Me
As I said, I am a culinary graduate who spent over twenty years in the F&B business. I am a photographer, stylist, recipe developer, and the creator of this space. When I am not in the kitchen, or behind the lens, you will most often find me out on walks taking in all nature has to offer. Walking is a way for me to think, daydream, meditate, listen to self-improvement audios, and refuel my brain.
I am a creative and loving Pisces with a very direct and stubborn Aries backing me on many levels. “We” continue to learn from one another, my Pisces are Aries sides. The one side is forgiving and loving of the impatient and temperamental side. I am also gracious and grateful of the headstrong and action taking side of me. Sounds and sometimes feels like I am on a bit of a rollercoaster ride, but I am a true believer in astrology. I am not into daily horoscopes and by no means a fanatic, but learning your birth chart can be enlightening.
About My Roots
I grew up in the tiniest and coldest of Oregon towns, Seneca. The town is approximately one-square mile, in Bear Valley, located in the Blue Mountain Range. Two of my uncles and aunts, four of my cousins, and my maternal grandmother and grandfather also lived in town alongside of my two siblings and parents while I was growing up. And, a little fun fact, my first word was “MORE.”
Being raised where you can run and play all day long and frolic in the woods until sunset is not something I would ever give up. We pretty much had free rein to run amuck, and we did.
Most of my family worked at the lumbermill until it burned down when I was very young, then both my uncles and father traveled to the next town to work at one of the mills there. My mom worked several jobs, and her and my father built and ran the local tavern. It was great cuz I got to eat and drink all the candy and pop that I wanted, ha, ha.
The Seneca kids had to travel to the nearest town to go to high school, Grant Union, in John Day. During High School I worked in the school cafeteria my junior and senior years. After graduating I headed to Portland, OR, where I had a scholarship to play volleyball. Talk about culture shock! One city block was bigger than my whole town. Along with other contributing factors, it was more than I was willing to tackle, and I went back home for almost a year where I worked as a server in a local restaurant.
Becoming an Adult
Awe to be young a free again, I really was a fly by the seat of my pants kinda gal, and one day I packed everything I owned in my car and left for Portland again. Not until after I left town did I call my mom and my employer to tell them I wouldn’t be coming back. (I NEVER left a job like that again.)
I spent the next several years taking college courses, serving in restaurants, and being an assistant manager. After a couple years of marriage, we moved to Central Oregon. I continued to be a server, bartender, and assistant manager.
I always had my fingers in other pots and was trying new things along the way. By my early thirties I knew I wanted to go to culinary school. Cooking had become such a huge part of my life both by myself and with my family. Having spent so much time in the kitchen and in the restaurant business, I excelled and earned a fellowship position upon graduating. The culinary school had a fine-dining restaurant that was open to the public. I loved teaching the students fine-dining procedures and helping them feel comfortable, calm, and confident about serving the public.
I regretfully moved on from the fellowship program before I had to and leased a food business that turned out to be one of the worst nightmares of my life. That’s all I’ll say about that.
Life Changes
My marriage was falling apart and so was I. I knew I couldn’t pour my soul into cooking, so I went to the nearest casino to deal Blackjack. As I said, along the way I had my fingers in many pots, and I had got certified in Blackjack and dealt cards for a year somewhere along the way.
It was so nice to be clocking in and out and not be responsible for other employees and a business. I was happy with my work life at that moment. Within the next six months, I left my marriage. As difficult and painful as that was after 16 years, and it was, I felt free. I had lost so much of myself over the past sixteen years.
About 7 months later, I got in a significant car accident on my way home from work one night, at no fault of my own. This is just one of many reasons, I know I have angels looking out for me. I was not seriously injured but couldn’t work for several weeks due to the tremendous pain of blunt force trauma to my chest. I spent the next four years in a lawsuit, physical therapy, pain management, and lots of doctors’ appointments. The bright side is, I am no longer completely terrified of needles.
Along with everything I had endured throughout the past couple of years, another HUGE tragic loss followed. It all knocked me down so hard both mentally and physically that I went down a rabbit hole.
Climbing Out of Rock Bottom
Somewhere along the way of picking myself up (thank you Lord, mom, sister, and K.D.) out of complete rock bottom, I decided I was going to put my degree to use. I bought a camera and decided I was going to start making food videos. (That’s not exactly how things went.)
Then, there was covid. I had zero issues of staying completely isolated from everyone, I already lived that way. It wasn’t until we had to return to work that I contracted the virus and was down for several weeks. It took me almost a year to physically recover.
I switched to the marketing department at the casino so that I didn’t have to deal with the public in the pandemic.
Something about the whole pandemic changed me. I spent the next year being very unhappy at work everyday and I finally couldn’t take it anymore, so I put in my notice.
Taking Time to Heal
For the first time in my life, I have taken the past couple of years off from working a full-time job. That is NOT to say I haven’t been working full-time, just not being compensated to do so. The time has had a lot of downs and ups. It has given me the time to heal, refocus, spend quality time with my family, and finally grow confident in my new role in life.
Although, many of my closest friends and family may have thought I may be a bit crazy to start completely over in an entirely new career, I didn’t care. Life is sooo short. Living a life unfulfilled with what you are offering the world is something I just wasn’t willing to sacrifice of myself any longer. I wanted “MORE.”
If you struggle with anxiety, depression, eating disorders, or substance abuse, you are not alone in this world. Please talk to someone and ask for help.
National Mental Health Hotline: 866-903-3787
Suicide: 1-800-273-8255
Substance Abuse: 1-800-662-HELP
National Eating Disorders: (212) 575-6200