Celebrity chef Marisa Churchill is well-known for the low-cal pastries and desserts she creates that don’t taste low-cal. Her best-selling book, Sweet & Skinny: 100 Recipes for Enjoying Life’s Sweeter Side Without Tipping the Scales will tell you how she does it.
A graduate of the California Culinary Academy in San Francisco, and the Culinary Institute of America at Greystone (in the Northern California city of St. Helena, where some of the region’s finest wine is made), Marisa has worked at some of San Francisco’s premiere restaurants, including Rubicon, which, unfortunately and despite having several celebrity investors including the late Robin Williams, shut its doors in 2008. Marisa’s TV appearances include her being a contestant on the second season of Top Chef. She’s also whipped up some of her specialties on The Talk, Access Hollywood as well as a few TV shows in Greece, a country she often visits, where she also enjoys culinary celeb status. When she’s not in the kitchen, Marisa, an avid swimmer, can usually be found at wherever the nearest pool or beach is.
I first contacted Marisa for an interview back in July of 2012, a few months after I caught her on the show Eye on the Bay and making note of her name. She promptly replied, stating she’d be happy to do an interview with me, but it just didn’t pan out. In January of this year, I decided to forward my original e-mail back to her, to see if we could then make an interview happen. She replied, it seemed like it might happen, but after a while, it still didn’t look like it was going to be, so I told her I’d settle for a “one question interview” if she’s just pick one of my questions to answer. So, citing her busy scheduled for not having the time to reply to all of my questions, she seemed to like that idea and answered one of my questions, and, for my patience, she said, answered a second. The above photo of Marisa was taken outside of the Kifissia flower show in northern Athens, Greece last month, where Marisa was on hand to whip up some of her famous Sweet & Skinny desserts for those in attendance.
(Author’s Disclaimer: I corresponded with Marisa through e-mail and I did not receive any confirmation it was actually her I was corresponding with, so I cannot say I’m 100% sure that Marisa’s fingers typed these replies to my questions ….but I’ll go as far as saying I’m 99% sure.)
MARISA: Yes, I think the Ferry Plaza Building is the place to shop. I try to go there at least once a month.
MARISA: I like Recchiuti for chocolates, Humphry Slocombe for ice cream, and Out the Door for a quick snack while shopping. Thanks Chris!
Marisa making her “Hot Cocoa with a kick” on a December 2011 segment of Diets in Review.
See more of Marisa at:
Her Official Website
Her Facebook Fan Page
Her Entries at the Huffington Post
Marisa on Pinterest
Marisa on Twitter
About the author
Originally from the San Francisco Bay Area, Chris flirted with the music business there and in Nashville before joining the U.S. Army and serving in South Korea. He remained in Asia for several years afterwards, teaching English, traveling, and covering the regional entertainment scenes. Currently in a mindset between Seoul and San Francisco, besides Idol Features, you can also catch his writings in the print edition of the monthly magazine, Effective.
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