It’s Bre again! We started this episode talking about cold barbeques, harvesting and FanX. Jeremy decided to throw a last HURRAH barbeque before Fall and the wedding. While he may be beat the wedding date deadline, Fall beat him. The day started off okay, but it was sweater and fire pit weather by the end. Because of this cold weather, it’s time to harvest or you’d better be covering your crop. The temperatures are already dipping below freezing! Lastly, FanX was underwhelming. I’m not sad we went but unlike most years, we didn’t stay for full days and took breaks where we came all the way back home. We ended up not even going on Saturday because running errands sounded like more fun. I think FanX needs to start rethinking their panels and their presenters. It was fun to see the artists and authors and we came home with a haul!
Carmella Anderson from Carmella’s Cuisine is our guest interview, and we were so extra-excited because she showed up with yummy cheese, crackers, and fruit for us all to dine on. You all know how much I love to eat on the show, but Chris wouldn’t let me, so we enjoyed an after-interview with Carmie, and her husband while chowing down on the good eats.
Carmie was born in Toledo, Ohio. She comes by cooking naturally as her parents managed food services in country clubs. After that her family lived above a tavern in Chicago that they owned and operated. As part of an exchange program, Carmie studied in France and has gone back since to study cooking. She has taken cooking classes all over Europe but has never officially gone to school for cooking. While it sounds like Carmie might have had a professional catering business most of her life she wasn’t able to start her own business until quite a bit later.
Carmie and her husband moved to Utah to help take care of her husband’s grandfather but it’s not professional catering time yet. She and her husband hand a handicapped child that kept them busy and it wasn’t until that child moved into a group home that Carmie took official steps to start her own business. Until then, she had been catering for friends and family at cost and already knew she loved it.
Chef Carmie has a passion for cooking and a dream and ran with it. Some of her first official business was a Delta Airlines contract that she took over from someone else. Doing that forced her to get her license and find a commercial kitchen. When the owner of her commissary decided to sell the building, Carmie started looking for a new kitchen and finally found a home in Riverton. It was leased to her as a working kitchen, but the prior tenant had been forced out and left behind not only a mess, but a kitchen that didn’t meet the city regulations. So, while still working in her first commissary, they started preparing the new kitchen for business. Her landlord forgave rent for few months while they renovated since the upgrades made the building more valuable!
So, why catering instead of truck or restaurant? Carmie tells us she loves to be a creative cook and the idea of doing the same menu over and over was not appealing. She loves to create beautiful means that are also tasty.
In addition to the catering, you can order meals to eat at home from her website. Orders are placed by Sunday evening and picked up on Tuesday. She can customize meals for gluten free, dairy free, and just about everything under the sun. She doesn’t see her work as just a job.
Carmie tells us about how she survived COVID shut down, what kinds of meals she prepares and the strange requests some folks make. She tells us about her favorite foods to make and eat and how loving her work helps her through the tough times.
Chef Carmie tells us that having grown up in Chicago and having travelled a lot, she loves Utah because you can find anything. There is a variety of entertainment and landscape. She finds Utah to be well-rounded and wouldn’t dream of calling anywhere else home. You can find her on
Most interesting/unique thing: Having grown up in Chicago and travelled quite a bit. You can find anything in Utah, entertainment, landscape, well-rounded place. Once you’ve been here and seen Utah, it has everything.
You can find Carmella on Instagram @carmellascuisine, on Facebook under Carmella’s Cuisine and online at www.carmellascuisuse.com. Go enjoy this episode and some of her great cooking!
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