Before I could reach the stove, I was already fascinated by what happened around it.

I was the kid in the high chair who couldn't stop watching the kitchen. I spent a lot of time tagging along with my dad at work in restaurants. I learned pretty early that food was about much more than what was on the plate. It was how people celebrated, how they took care of each other and how they came together.

When I lost my brother, the kitchen took on a very different meaning for me.

Cooking became a place I could return to. It helped me work through grief and gave me a way to feel connected to my brother through the foods we had shared. Over time, I realized just how much memory food can hold. A dish can take you back to a person, a place or a moment you thought you'd forgotten.

Somewhere along the way, cooking also became what I wanted to do with my life.

I went to Johnson & Wales University, where I earned my Bachelor of Science in Culinary Arts and later my Master of Arts in Teaching with a focus on culinary education. I love being a chef, but I also really love teaching people to cook. The two have become a big part of who I am.

Today, I bring both into people's homes throughout Rhode Island and Massachusetts.

With The Supper Club, I get to create the kind of dinner where the host actually gets to sit down. I plan the menu, shop, cook, serve and clean up. You get to pour a glass of wine, be with your guests and enjoy the dinner you wanted to have in the first place.

The Kitchen Party is a completely different kind of night. We cook together. I show you the techniques I use as a chef, answer all the questions you've always wanted to ask and hopefully make the kitchen feel a little less intimidating. There's usually some flour on the counter, something good in everyone's glass and a meal at the end that we made together.

And The Weekly Table is for everyday life. I come into your kitchen and cook fresh meals for the week ahead. It's for busy weeks, summer vacations or simply those times when figuring out what's for dinner feels like one thing too many. I do the shopping and cooking, leave your kitchen clean and your refrigerator stocked, and you get some time back.

I think that's what I love most about food. It doesn't have to be a special occasion to matter.

Sometimes it's a beautiful dinner for a birthday or anniversary. Sometimes it's learning to make fresh pasta with your favorite people. And sometimes it's opening the refrigerator on a Wednesday night and finding something really good waiting for you.

For me, it always comes back to good food, the people we share it with and the stories we make around the table.

That's what meals worth staying in for means to me.