Thirteen years ago I met and married my husband who is an active duty US Marine. He had a beautiful little three-year-old boy who stole my heart. My husband took me away from the West Coast all the way to exotic Camp Lejeune in Jacksonville, NC. In 2013 we had our daughter while on recruiting duty in Arkansas. Since then we have bounced back and forth from the East Coast to the West Coast and we are now about to do our fifth move together. This time to Okinawa, Japan!
However, working in the food industry is exhausting. There are long, back breaking hours, working in scorching environments, late nights/early mornings and a lot of time away from my family. Trying to schedule all of that around military trainings, deployments and moves…it just isn’t for me anymore.
Now, I am devoting my time to connecting military families to their loved ones who are stationed in Okinawa, Japan by delivering home cooked meals to their barracks. The rewards of directly making an impact in people’s lives through my love of food is immeasurable.
Meet Chef Alyssa
I can’t remember not being in a kitchen. When I was very young, I’d stand on a stool at my grandfather’s butcher block and use the chef’s knife he had personally cut down to size for me. By the time I was in high school I regularly cooked for my family of five, baked for pleasure and cooked dishes for church and school events.
I attended culinary school in Seattle, WA simply as a way to improve on my hobby before moving onto the University of Washington to do premed. Alas, life got in the way and I did not complete culinary school or medical school at that point in life. I worked at a full range of food establishments, fast food (my first job at Burger King!) small coffee shops/cafes, a homeless shelter, a Montessori school, a private chef in a home, a cupcake bakery, a privately owned seafood restaurant, Red Robin, private catering, and more.
Last year I was finally able to accomplish the goal of completing culinary school in Jacksonville, NC at Coastal Carolina Community College.
