About Us  Sample Menu Contact Services Offered		About Us. I became interested in cooking about 25 years ago when health food first became popular. I learned how to bake bread, make granola and prepared soups and salads made with organic ingredients. As time went on I began to collect recipes from magazines like Ladies Home Journal, Redbook and Good Housekeeping. From these magazines I learned about preparing meat dishes like fried chicken, barbecue, pasta dishes and roasts and sandwiches. I Soon discovered the Ladies Home Journal Christmas Cookie Book's and became very interested in creating specialty cookies that I made every year and gave away as gifts. This is about the time that cooking became more than just a hobby for me. I was always on the look out for new recipes and cookbooks and started to cook Chinese, Mexican and Italian dishes as well as traditional American cuisine. I worked in restaurants for 15 years and became familiar with what people expect in quality of service and food. When I married I quit working for a while and spent quite a bit of time writing menus, selecting and shopping for needed ingredients and cooking meals for my husband and myself. When I decided to go back to work I couldn't find anything that interested me and seemed to just go from one job to the next. A good friend mentioned to me an article that she had read about the personal chef business and that it sounded perfect for me, all you needed was a passion for cooking. I was delighted to find that I could do something that I love something that I'm good at and get paid for it too. I contacted the United States Personal Chefs Association. The idea that I could make a living cooking, make my own hours and service busy people who don't have time to cook was extremely appealing to me. Also, at a time when people are becoming accustomed to cell phones, pagers, and computers being able to have a home cooked meal in a matter of minutes has great appeal. Debra Thrap Premier Member-United States Personal Chef Association. Questions or comments about this site contact the Webmaster © 2001 Cooking Companion PCS ABQ NM, Developed by: Lloyd Thrap for BlueCat Productions. Last updated12/23/2001