The most important lessons I have learned in life about being a wonderful wife, mother and cook came from my mother Carmelita who was born in Minas Gerais, Brazil. As a young woman she moved to Washington D.C. with the family of a diplomat. She then moved to New York City where she met my father, fell in love and got married.

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I was an only child, and that along with being a girl created a bond between my mother and I that was unbreakable. When I was growing up, we loved baking together in the kitchen of our little New York City apartment. We would find new Brazilian recipes in the cookbooks that were handed down to her by her mother. On the weekends, we would sit together pouring over the books and find something new to make for family and friends.

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Every birthday party or celebration my mother and I would make brigadeiros together. I can still remember waking up in the morning to the sweet smell of chocolate and finding my mother in the kitchen gently stirring the brigadeiros on the stove. She taught me how to hand roll each brigadeio until they were a mini masterpiece.