Every year, I hire a new team it seems like- just to see them go the at the end of the school year. This year, however; our team holds steady, and all team members plan on staying on board for the fall of 2010.
It's a good to time to introduce all our team members!
Chef Debra
Debra Sullivan-Spagna Returns for her sixth year as head chef, running MBTA's kitchen with more fresh ideas, a new rotation menu, and a brand new staff for 2009-2010. Debra's culinary experience comes from Zingerman's Roadhouse Restaurant, New York's Omega Institute for Holistic Studies, Whole Foods Market, and other gourmet establishments and is also enrolled in WCC's Culinary program.
Originally from New York city area, Debra has resided in New Mexico, New Jersey, and upstate New York as well. Debra currently lives with her boyfriend, Jade with their 3 cats; Spooky, Nemo and Taco-beans in a condo in Saline.
Debra attends classes on scholarship at Eastern Michigan University's Art program and also at Washtenaw Community College, where she's on the deans list and contributing creative writer for the school paper. In her spare time, (HA!) Debra travels, creates art, writes, runs a small business (scarlettfox.com), has a small catering company (foxcatering.com), takes photos, writes, blogs, gardens and spends time with Jade and the kitties. Debra Likes to eat, and loves to cook! Debra would love to skydive one day- and learn how to fly a small plane. Oh, and be an awesome graphic designer living in New York City! Until then, she's enjoying every moment of the Telluride experience, and keeps returning- year after year!
Jade occasionally will come around for dinner. He graduated summa cum laude from the U of M's Computer Engineering Program, and works downtown in A2. Jade's primary project is "Verus" the world's most accurate multi-lingual Optical Character Recognition software. He's quiet, but he'll open up quick if you mention batman, robots or cookies. :P
Jack Moore
Jack Moore returns for to complete his first year at Telluride as the weekend cook and more. Jack does a little bit of everything in the kitchen, and has dramatically grown as a cook in the last year.
Born in California, Jack has lived all over the USA- and landed in Michigan two years ago. Jack spends alot of time traveling the USA, visiting family when he can, learning about wild herbs and cooking, and has quite a varied history. He's spent time in the army as a nuclear engineer in training, and as an apprentice in a successful Italian Restaurant. Jack is a sweet man with a big heart, and an open mind. He's irreplaceable in the kitchen-he's a super hard worker- PLUS he's one of a kind!
Jack also loves to sing and play guitar, especially good covers. Don't let him near you're guitar if you want it back anytime soon! He also enjoys movies and video games.
Jason Steinhaus
Jason comes on board for his first year at telluride in the fall of 2009. Jason recently worked at a Greek Restaurant in Upstate Michigan.
Jason is originally from Canada. He resides in Ann Arbor and attends Washtenaw County Community College's Culinary Program. He's also earned a degree in Classical Studies at Dartmouth, and is interested in working in the field in Michigan in addition to cooking at Telluride. He lives with his girlfriend, Leslie and his dog, Phantom just up the road from MBTA.
Jennifer Morgan
Originally from Detroit, Jennifer Morgan is a brand new kitchen Assistant at MBTA. She has culinary experience from cooking for her Church in Ann Arbor. Jennifer is very involved in her church, and attends several times a week. She also cooks breakfast at a national hotel chain in Ann Arbor.
In her spare time, Jennifer loves to cook, especially baking because it's her way of showing love and support for others. She also is very creative, writing poetry, occasionally performing for church functions and she also has experience in floral arrangements. She gets very excited about the prospect of catering, any kind of catering, especially wedding and breakfast. Jennifer also enjoys uplifting music and spending time with her sweetie, Montel- who visits for dinner on occasion.Jennifer is a pleasure to work with- she's dependable, hard working, determined and positive. She loves to talk about her many interests and aspirations, and has many dreams to fulfill! Chef Debra is teaching this talented young lady everything she can so that she can be on the "other side" of the kitchen.
Sara Kosuth
Sara is a brand new employee at Telluride! She's been signed on to two prep cook shifts a week throughout the school year.
Sara is currently a third year student at the University of Michigan studying psychology and will be attending culinary school in the fall of 2012. One of her favorite things to do besides cooking and eating is traveling. She has been to parts of Europe, North America, and South America; Greece, Italy, and the South of France being her favorite. Sara loves the outdoors and eventually would like to earn her sky-diving license. Although most of her time is spent studying at the library, she enjoys photography and listening to electronic music. But most of all cooking new dishes!
