Hello and welcome to Alyssa Cooks !!

My name is Alyssa Held and I have an unabashed passion for food.

I have been surrounded by foodies my whole life.  My father was in the veal business and my sisters and I often went to work with him,  packing veal cutlets and chops for resale. My mother,  needless to say,  knew an awful lot of veal recipes -  the smell of her fried veal chops lingers with great fondness in my memories!  My grandmother Ida and my grandfather Jack were wonderful cooks and eagerly shared their family recipes with me.  Jack made the best potato pancakes I have ever had!

I have been cooking since the 7^th grade when my home economics teacher,  Mrs. Weinstock, taught me how to bake biscuits.  I was so enthralled that I started baking them at home –just about every night  for a year !!!  I made every conceivable variety of biscuit - cheese biscuits, sweet ones,  savory ones,  you name it!  Finally,  my family begged me to stop! 

Well,  I never stopped but I did move on to other recipes  and I have been cooking ever since.  That was….well…er….let’s just say that was many years ago. Since then, I have worked in most aspects of the food industry from waitress, to counter person to cook/chef. 

About 4 years ago,  after a very rewarding career as a clinical psychologist,  I decided that life was too short to not pursue my culinary passions professionally.  I enrolled in the culinary arts program at Newbury College and got a new degree in culinary arts!  I also worked as a chef – apprentice at Grappa in Maynard MA  until it closed last January.  Since then,   I have started my own chef business. I have catered many events,  given lots of private cooking lessons and worked as a personal chef.

I am now working on my very own local access television cooking show which should begin airing September 2003!  All of the recipes from that show will be available on this website.  Please help me make this site great by sending me ideas,  suggestions, recipes and comments using the contact form provided.  I will put lots of your ideas on the page marked "Your Ideas."

If you like the shows,  you can hire me to come to your house and cook for you!  I will also be giving lessons - individual or group -  in private homes in the near future.  More information on this will be forthcoming on the Services page shortly.

Please be patient as I work to make this site better.