I have been interested in nutrition, cooking and baking.  My great grandparents were chefs and had a pie baking business in Philadelphia.  I have fond memories of baking peach pie, apple crisp, and making all of the fixings for summer picnics, Thanksgiving, Christmas and Easter dinners with my mom and grandmother, who were also excellent cooks.  We were always very precise in the kitchen, as bakers must be.  Our household was filled up with animals of all sorts, as we were the neighborhood animal rescue. I’ll never forget the four woodpeckers we rescued. I named them Apple, Peaches, Pumpkin and Pie and my baby finger was the only one small enough to push the food down their little throats. We released them into the beautiful woods near our house in Northeast Philadelphia.

 

Much to my mother’s dismay I became a vegetarian in high school (mostly due to my love for animals).  She insisted that I consume enough protein, and so many of my meals consisted of cottage cheese and applesauce. 

I had to learn how to cook at this point and began my culinary adventure at age 15.  Everything I learned at that time was from my grandmother, mother, The Art of French Cooking and the wonderful book The Vegetarian Epicure by Anna Thomas.  I learned how to make complicated French food, sauces, delicious cheesy casseroles and baked fresh breads and desserts. 

 

I am very interested in music and studied guitar with Phillip Covelli at the Jekintown Music School. My mother smartly talked me out of being a music major in college and I so I studied biochemistry at Penn State so that I could discover what the nutrients were in raw foods which made them so healthy for us. I continued to pursue my music and taught guitar lessons and worked as a singer/guitarist.  Hence the name of my business:    Sweet Sue’s Jam Session.

 

I became a science teacher and have taught every grade level in the public school. Teaching is a rewarding career. A pivotal point was when I  worked at my son’s kitchen in San Francisco, and helped him prepare thousands of meals per week, for his business The Fudbox.  

 

I enrolled in Culinary Arts school, taught cooking classes, wrote a monthly cooking article for The Hook magazine and became a personal chef. I specialize in hearty meals, whether they be vegetarian, vegan and Paleo diet cuisines that are healthful, nutritious and delicious. I liken my eclectic experiences to my own personal delectable stew and look forward to cooking adventures to come.