I am spending the month of October in Paris, France. Yes, I know. Sometimes I have to pinch myself. The original idea was to complete the Masters Program at Escoffier, but little did I know that I would get to work as a chef at the Ritz Hotel, Paris. An extra week turned into an opportunity for French language school. Wow! This is like a dream for me, but what a challenge.

Finding a name for this blog was also a challenge. I polled quite a few friends, and some of the names were outrageous, others were kinda boring. One night while hanging out in a local bar with friends, tossing about some of the better choices, Carmelo said "Hey, what about Chipped Ham and Champagne?" After all, the Pittsburgh culture has had an indelible influence on my life, and at the same time, I'm a classically trained French chef. And by the way, I would eat a chipped ham sandwich and wash it down with a decent bottle of champagne any day. That attitude definitely translates to my point of view about cooking. I love to take a classical French recipe and make it my own, give it the "American girl" twist, if you will.