About me
Hello. I’m Nella. I recently published my first cookbook, Cooking by Heart, whose name suggests that the recipes were written from memory and chosen with love.The book is a collection of recipes, family favorites, that celebrate my Italian heritage.
In the late 80’s I lived and worked in Washington D.C. One night I went to a cooking class at L’Academie de Cuisine in Bethesda. While I had grown up in a family where food was an integral part of our dynamic, it never occurred to me that cooking could also be so much fun! I was hooked and enrolled in the school’s professional course. Soon it became clear that the classic French techniques I learned could be applied to any cuisine. So, after earning my diploma I started teaching Italian cooking, a subject I knew a lot about from having lived in Italy. I left my day job to cook at a local French bistro, tried my hand at food writing, and started my own catering business.
Fast forward through my corporate years at Wegmans Food Markets, developing recipes for home cooks, empowering people to “strive for five,” showing store employees how to conduct cooking demos to “help make great meals easy,” and a whole lot more.
Now here I am, still teaching, traveling, cooking, and sharing what I love.
Anyway, that’s my story. What’s yours?
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