I could tell you how as I approached my career peak as a professional woman, realized it was not completely fulfilling, but we all know that what fulfills us has always been with us.  Instead, my story is rooted in tradition, experience, and the expansion of its essence.

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In my early life, I spent hours in the kitchen fulfilling my role as sous chef to my father. Being a perfectionist, I remember as a young child, my father made me crack an egg, again and again, with only one hand without breaking the yolk! At the time, I did not understand the purpose of repeatedly breaking an egg until I did it correctly. However, reflecting back, I realized that discipline helped make me who I am today.

 

Growing up as an Italian American, there was no need to dine out when the best meals were made at home with recipes passed down with pride and love from generation to generation. My chores consisted of making fresh bread every Saturday and fresh sauce every three weeks in addition to making alternating batches of meatballs.  In my home, it was considered a sin to consume store bought bread. I will never forget the stares in the school lunchroom from my classmates over my three-inch tall peanut butter and jelly sandwiches! Still, there was not a place more important than being at the dinner table with family and close family friends to celebrate the ritual of eating a wonderful meal.  With my best childhood friend, also being of Italian heritage and practicing the same rituals, it was only natural to think that this is what every family experienced.

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Being together, lasted late into the night, or what felt like all night. I distinctly remember the sound of laughter well after I had been tucked into bed.  My family celebrated every possible occasion from birthdays to anniversaries to holidays, you name it!  What I remember most is the anxious anticipation of our guests’ arrival.  Knowing the feast that they were about to experience, I will always remember how incredibly early I woke up to prepare the meal with my dad. It was not until my adult life that I genuinely appreciated the happiness we all shared by being together and sharing a family meal.  In our culture, whether you were blood or not, if you were invited to a family dinner, you were family.

 

While I became quite the at-home cook, striving to make every experience a memorable one through my culinary creations, ultimately it was the experience created around the food that is my greatest accomplishment.  When family and friends come over and reminisce about special occasions and the experiences that we had together around the table because they had made one of my recipes, I knew that I had achieved true fulfillment.

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So, you may ask when did I start making chello, an Italian, sweet-dinner drink often made from fresh lemons. While I am a lover of lemons, I never liked limoncello, until one day while hosting a dinner at home, I received a hostess gift that changed my life forever, homemade limoncello!  I was always curious about homemade limoncello, and from that point on, I tried every “proclaimed” recipe that I could find at every restaurant even as far-away as Amalfi, Italy!  Incorporating my discipline for perfection and ancestral cooking skills, it took me nine years of trial and error, in-between climbing my career ladder, to create a perfectly balanced limoncello flavor.  After that, I began infusing my Chellos with farmer’s market fruits or flavors of nostalgia. 

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Chellos became a staple at every gathering.  After a meal was consumed and it was time for dessert, it became common for guests to ask, “Michelle, do you by any chance have any Chello?”  Sharing Chello after a meal became commonplace, a tradition in its own right.  Chellos grew out of the dinner table and into the lives of other people’s special occasions and experiences with their friends and family.  Everyone always came back and told me how it was a delicacy and how it had made the party a success! It even became my own unique gift.  It gave me great pleasure to help others create their own memories through their experience with chello!

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While Cia CHELLO is rooted in tradition, it is also infused with a modern style.  In remembrance and acknowledgement of my roots, it’s my grandfather who always said, “What you do today, makes tomorrow’s memories…so make today count.”  So, it is my goal to enhance your cherished occasions, so they also become tomorrow’s memories – Michelle

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Please check back soon for locations to purchase Ciao CHELLO.  In the meantime, I appreciate your interest in my chellos and all your support!