My name is Cynthia Nims and I’m a food writer and consultant focused on food, wine, travel, cocktails, the good things in life. I’m as surprised as anyone that I’ve made a career of food writing for over 20 years now. I’d always loved to cook as a kid, collected old Gourmet magazines at garage sales and cooked fancy dinners for high school friends. But when I headed off to the University of Puget Sound, I had an engineering degree in mind. I figured I’d be one of those professional types who threw great dinner parties on weekends.
But somewhere along the line, the course of my path changed.
My first study-abroad program while at UPS took me to Paris for a month. There, I made a pilgrimage to Le Cordon Bleu, the venerable culinary school that dates to 1895. So venerable, I’d imagined it would be palace-like, with gilded columns, grand carved door, marble entryway. Instead it was an unremarkable doorway on a random side street in Paris, notable only by its signature-blue awning.
No matter. I was still fully enchanted, took an afternoon cooking demo class and promised myself that one day I’d return to France to go to cooking school. It took another five years, but that’s just what I did. Once I’d realized my degrees in mathematics and French literature weren’t skyrocketing me into career bliss. After a couple years as a highly educated receptionist, I packed my bags, put my belongings in storage and went to France. Not to Le Cordon Bleu, but instead followed the footsteps of a mentor Susan Herrmann Loomis and signed on as a stagiaire (work-study student) at La Varenne instead.
There’s far more to the story of what transpired in those 2 1/2 years I spent in France than can be recounted here. Suffice it to say that I not only learned to cook, I found my life’s path. I spent time in both Burgundy and Paris, creating memories and putting down roots that course through me on every trip back to France. It’s a time I’ll always cherish. And no, I have no idea what I’d be doing with my life right now had I not taken that leap.
My time these days is spent writing cookbooks and blog posts, developing recipes, writing magazine articles, consulting on various projects, trying to keep my office in order and volunteering time to things such as the International Association of Culinary Professionals (currently serving as president of the board of directors). Spurts of travel here and there. Unwinding with friends over good food and fun games, which, thanks to this blog, qualifies as work as well.
Many and varied interests help assure a work life that never is dull. And you can be sure that there’s going to be another delicious and engaging project on the menu sometime soon!
Visit my other blog
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