Born
in New York City, I studied Art History along with thousands of
other would be curators, art directors, gallerists and art world
wanna-bees way back at the beginning of the seventies. It was a
fun time and being an artist was about all I was interested in.
For
those of you who are wondering, yes I got through university or
at least half of it working as a waiter at some better NYC restaurants.
It paid well and I was fortunate to run into a couple of older guys
who were Europeans, who were professional waiters. They worked hard
and had one of the best networks I have ever seen for finding only
the best waiting jobs. My interest in food began to grow during
this time and I saw and eat many things for the very first time.
I also learned a good deal about service from them.
After
school not really finding myself at several office positions, I
settled into book manufacturing (met one of my oldest friends) and
then publishing, (production work). A few years of that, so much
glamour and no money, I thought it was time for a big change. Now
28 and living with a Swedish diplomat I really needed to think about
a profession that I would enjoy and would travel. So after much
thought and being creative by nature it came to me. The one profession
that I was not too old for and always interested me - food! If you
cook well in one place you can cook well almost any place. So I
took a professional course at the New School of Culinary Arts, which
was the only cooking school in NYC at the time and I was off and
running.
I
worked in NYC at several restaurants and caterers, catered myself
for a while (a cut throat business in NYC), and then got one of
my best jobs ever - being a private chef for the Marquise and Marquees
Raoul De Saint Cyr, and the perfect job it was. Raoul being French
and very knowledgeable was an enormous help in getting my cooking
right as was several trips abroad. Their light entertaining and
falling in with a couple of other private chefs was interesting
and exciting.
They
say behind every great man is a great women, well behind her I discovered
is her chef. You can be wearing a 20 thousand dollar dress but if
the meal sucks so does your social status. In NYC you are easily
measured by who made the plate but by what’s on the plate.
After
being a waiter for several years and living with a diplomat for
7 years in NYC, doing some catering and private cheffing (is that
a word?) I think I got a good deal of work experience. So I was
ready for the big move when it came.
I
found in time myself moving to Sweden. Things changed drastically
and for the sake of my strange humor, I got a job poisoning people
(my first cooking job in Sweden) at an Eriksson plant in Kista.
My thinking was that the best way into the business was to take
the first job I could get, not being Swedish speaking. Well it turned
out to be a mess but I did meet another friend who also turned out
to be one of my oldest friends here.
Well
as we all know life has lots of ways of side tracking you and in
1984 Stockholm was not the eating capital it is today. Pickings
were rather slim. I began working with Stockholm Mobile in Östermalm
(for those of you old enough to remember) and I was suddenly back
in the art world. Leaving my cooking behind for awhile the next
12 years was taken up by, Owning a gallery (1987), starting a foundation
(1992), starting another foundation (1994), arranging big events
in dance, music, theater, giving cocktails, organizing art exhibits,
fundraising, traveling, hosting private parties, hosting dinners
and of course cooking a great deal.
Well
as things have it, through most of this there always were 2 threads
holding it all together, food and entertaining, and generally just
enjoying being around people. I think you have to really enjoy being
with people if your goal is to make them feel comfortable around
you.
So
here I am back to cooking and helping others to entertain. I like
cooking, teaching, talking and just being friendly. Part of this
site is of course an answer to many friends and people who have
asked for recipes. So it’s great to be back into something
that I really love doing, something that gives me so much pleasure
and has held an interest for me for many years, Food!
Bill |
