The women who got me into the cooking game

How 3 women taught me everything about food and life

I’m a very lucky woman. I grew up in the 21st century. I was allowed to speak my mind and choose a path that I wanted to pursue on my own terms in my own way. I grew up around women who were strong and made their own rules. They never told me my dreams were too big or unattainable. I learned about life, family and food from both my grandmothers.

I learned how to truly appreciate life and live it to it's fullest from my mom. People always say you learn from your elders and I did. I spent the time to learn and listen, because I knew one day I would have to put it all into practice. Thanks queens!

Nancy standing in front of the Gall house

My father’s mother was born on a small farm in rural Scotland. She was very serious and barely cracked a joke or even a smile depending on the day. She would look after me with my grandfather every Monday after I would finish school. She would always bring me something traditionally Scottish and yummy for me to snack on when I came home.

She grew up saving and saving, whether it was pennies or food scraps to make something else. She grew up on a farm and was working from a very young age to help her family get it done. She was patient and methodical and got excited over things like Jell-O or Trifle for a dessert. I never could quite understand her when I was young, or bothered to take the time, but as a grown up I remember the lessons and the good times we would have in the kitchen together.

Nancy didn’t have quite the knack for cooking, but the damn, did the woman ever have a hand for baking. She would make pies, cookies and cakes with such precision and accuracy that they would turn out the same every time. I mean every damn time, those shortbread cookies would turn out perfectly. They were the perfect mix of butter, sugar and crunch. Everything you wanted to have with a cup of tea in the afternoon.

Vio hanging out in the garden

My mother’s mom was the cook. Violetta knew how to make anything and sew anything. The woman made all the clothes for my mom and uncle when they were young and cooked like a crazy woman ever so casually. She knew how to entertain and throw a party like noone’s business and could hold her own against any other woman who knew how to cook.

She was from a city in Estonia, on the Baltic Sea. She left the country by herself when she was very young and made it happen in a new country all on her own. She married an Italian man and totally adopted the Canadian lifestyle. She was a natural learner and learned recipes from many of the women she met as well as from my grandfather’s family.

the original Nonna

If anyone knows any Italian Nonna’s, you know they don’t screw around in the kitchen and are very judgmental of other people’s cooking. My grandmother learned it all from Emilia (my grandfathers mother), so she could make Italian food just as good for her family. I would say this impressed Emilia very much and she loved my grandmother for her kindness and affection.

The one thing I wish she did more of when I was young was cook more Baltic food. I would have loved to learn those things from her, but sadly she didn’t make as many things from her previous life. She morphed into almost being as Italian as the people who were from Italy.

just hanging with Julia

My mother is the top of the pyramid of the 3 women who taught me how to cook. Even though my mother denies it, the woman really taught me how to cook. I think it was slightly due to the fact that she had all these women in her family who were super strong women and killer cooks that taught her before me. I would stand next to her by the stove and watch the water boil or pick basil from the garden to bring inside and make pesto. We baked cookies at Christmas and cooked together on Sunday’s. This obsession with food was passed down to me and I guess that’s why I made it part of my life and career.

Now when I cook next to my mom and she asks me if what she is doing is okay. I tell her that she is the one who taught me to cook in general, so I will never ever pass judgment on her in the kitchen. Lady knows her stuff!

Having all these ladies in my life has been a blessing and I think they have all taught me things that have shaped me as a person. I loved growing up with outspoken and strong women and I am so proud of the things we created together. I know I wouldn’t be working as a Chef this long, if I didn’t grow up in a family that wasn’t obsessed with food.

All the fighting in the kitchen, next to the stove is somehow comforting to me and that is why I feel so comfortable in the heat of a commercial kitchen.

People ask me why I got into the business and most of the time I respond to them with, my family always collected in the kitchen and that’s where I feel the most comfortable. I guess it was just natural for me to start a career in which I had grown up already doing.

Call your Granny's and Nonna's and ask them for cooking tips on the phone...because you know they don't have face time