07/09/2026
Here’s a little blast from the past 😂👩🍳
Meet little 16-year-old me, a first-year apprentice chef in the Whitsundays… 26 YEARS AGO. 😳
First year in and, naturally, I decided to enter the Salon Culinaire Awards. This was a MASSIVE thing back then. Any current chefs out there know if it’s still a thing?!
There was even a BUTTER CARVING. 😂
Because apparently carving an actual sculpture out of butter in the Whitsundays, in the peak of spring, seemed like a perfectly sensible idea.
Looking back, the food is incredibly outdated, the presentation is gloriously daggy and I absolutely LOVE it.
Because this is where it all began.
Those early years taught me to work hard. To strive for excellence. To keep learning, keep creating and keep pushing myself. But most importantly, they taught me to absolutely love my craft.
And 26 years later, that part hasn’t changed.
These days I wear about a thousand different hats running three businesses, but I still genuinely love pulling on my apron and jumping into the kitchen.
Creating food. Playing with flavours. Feeding people. Nourishing our guests and making something that brings someone a little bit of joy.
I think that will permanently be part of my soul. ❤️
So here’s to 16-year-old me, her very serious competition plates and her questionable tropical butter sculpture. 😂
Now I KNOW there have to be some other chefs out there sitting on some spectacularly daggy-but-you-were-so-damn-proud-of-it food photos.
PLEASE share them. I need to see them. 😂👇
