Food, according to gourmet chef and baker Christina Sleeper, is not just what we eat; "it's a way to communicate: a way to show love and appreciation, a way to share time together and create happy memories." Christina spoke to Suite 101 about her culinary journey.
Sleepers' Magic Gourmet Foods
Christina Sleeper (Los Angeles) is a University of Cincinnati graduate with degrees in computer programming, communications and journalism. She has a wealth of experience working in restaurants and catering. With her husband Mark, she runs a growing specialty food company. Sleeper's Magic Gourmet Foods offers artisan jams, cakes, cookies, gift baskets and more. It started with her signature Magic Rubs. Spice rubs, a southern barbecue tradition, can also be used in dips and on popcorn.
The Melting Pot
Christina grew up in Lorrain, Ohio, an ethnic and racially diverse neighborhood 30 miles west of Cleveland. Along with the ethnic diversity in her family, this environment was ideal for developing her love for a wide variety of foods and cooking styles.
Christina refers to her mother, who graduated high school in 1960, as the "Queen of Convenience." She "loved everything that came in a package," buying into the then emerging belief that abandoning traditional home-cooking and embracing the box would make life easier.
From childhood, however, Christina disagreed. She lobbied for using her grandmother's recipes and was soon baking cookies and cupcakes, supplying the family with many varieties at Christmas.
Going Solo
Sleeper's first memory of cooking solo was at age ten. She was studying French and received a recipe for French bread. Her mother, who had never baked bread, told her she was on her own.
That first loaf of French bread was "perfect, with a nice golden crust." It was "tasty and warm." She covered it with peanut butter, which melted. She liked it, but thought, "That was a lot of work for just one loaf of bread." At the time, she couldn't comprehend doubling and tripling.
The French-bread project convinced her Mom that Christina was good in the kitchen. By age twelve, she had prepared her first Thanksgiving meal. By 8th grade, her mother was working evenings, leaving Christina to prep the family's meals.
"We didn't complain about chores," she remembered, "We knew that there were expectations of us in the family."
Mother and daughter loved doing parties in the early 80s. At the time her brother was confirmed, quiche was becoming popular, and Christina suggested serving it at his brunch. Her mother again bowed out and Christina was on her own. Everyone was pleased, joking that "they thought real men weren't supposed to like quiche."
Cornerstones of Sleeper's Kitchen
Sleeper still has her recipes from her Italian grandmother and a large cooking scrapbook she's been keeping for decades. She advises new cooks to collect similar resources and has two other recommendations. For the basics, she prefers the original Betty Crocker cookbook. The second is a reference book that Sleeper uses regularly, full of information on everything from basic techniques to sauce creation.
"If you want to be a good cook, you don't want to put this book on a pedestal," she said of Julia Child's The Art of Cooking, "Put it right next to the spatula. Don't treat Julia as though it holds the secrets to some high lofty goal that you'll never get to. Going from the simple Betty Crocker to the very involved Julia Child, you meet somewhere in the middle with something original."
Discovering Her Special Gift
Sleeper worked her way through college at the Netherland Plaza, a 5 star Cincinnati hotel. The executive chef expected servers to know the menu thoroughly. Each day before her shift, she tasted menu items. She developed her pallet as well as her ability to describe menu choices. This helped her encourage customers to try specials.
The chef, whom she credits with "seeing something in me that I didn't realize was there," taught her a technique for de-boning chicken, in which all bones are removed in one cutting. He showed her how to pound out the chicken and make a chicken roll stuffed with apple, spinach and cheese, which she cut into pinwheels. She cooked it for her future husband.
"He was impressed," she said smiling.
Passing it On
After college in 1987, Sleeper worked for three weekly newspapers. Within two years, the pressure of deadlines was taking its toll. A friend convinced her to try catering. Initially part-time, she was soon managing events for a Columbus catering company at places like the Ohio Governor's Mansion. She also was the private chef for smaller events.
While pregnant with her daughter, Christina moved away from professional catering. She wanted her daughter to have kitchen experiences like she'd had. When she was 2 and could stand on a kitchen chair at the counter, she was making cookies. While showing her how to measure ingredients and level them off with a butter knife, Sleeper realized how much she enjoyed teaching.
Sleeper became a Girl Scout leader in part to pass on her cooking skills. On one international-day event, her troop made potato leak soup. She multiplied her recipe 12 times. They sold over 300 Dixie cups. She still loves being a chef and teacher.
Free Chocolate Cake Recipe
In 2008, after her husband was laid off, the California couple started their own business. The company is now "rebranding" as Sleeper's Gourmet Foods to make the major push to retail shelves in 2012. Sleeper shared her Free chocolate cake recipe.
Resources
Phone interview with Christina Sleeper (March 14, 2011) and subsequent e-mails.
Donna W. Hill - Donna W. Hill is an author, singer/songwriter, recording artist, speaker and avid knitter in Pennsylvania's rural Endless Mountains. Her ...
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