When Renée invited her friend over for lunch last fall, she was determined to fix something truly special. “I really wanted to make her something fun and different,” she says, “so I started looking through what I had in the kitchen for inspiration.”

Inspiration struck, and Renée created her initial batch of Caramel-Pear Scones, featured in the October/November 2008 issue of Cooking Pleasures. “It turned out great the first time,” she says of the tasty invention. 

Some like it hot
Renée is best known among family and friends for making spicy dishes. (Her scones are a sweet exception.) Mexican food is her very favorite.

Perhaps some of her delight, especially with chiles, comes from a memorable vacation: “My husband and I went to Cancun about six years ago,” Renée says. “We spent time snorkeling, visiting ancient ruins and eating fabulous food.”

It’s in the genes
Renée freely admits that not of her success in the kitchen is due to sheer inspiration. A lot of it comes from her older relatives. “All the women in my family are awesome cooks. I learned a lot from my mom, grandma and aunts.”

Without guidance from a talented family member or from a trusted recipe, however, strange things can happen. One such experience was making chicken Tetrazzini for the first time. “I was newly married and didn’t have the recipe yet, and I thought I could cook it from memory,” Renée relates. “It was absolutely inedible! The worst meal I’ve ever made.”

Passing it on
Culinary skills have been handed down from mother to daughter for generations in Renée’s family. Now she’s busy raising two girls of her own: Gabriella, age 3, and Natalie, age 2. No doubt they’ll soon be the ones concocting delicious new dishes.

Before becoming a stay-at-home mom, Renée got her degrees in psychology and counseling.  However, part of her still wishes that she’d followed a culinary path instead. “If I had it to do over again, I’d probably look into cooking school and see where that leads.”