Every so often, do you find yourself looking back on your life and appreciate how much you’ve grown? I don’t do it often enough but was able to enjoy how much has happened since I last updated this page. Below are a few accolades. I hope you enjoy and if you have any question or feel inspired to start your Personal Chef Journey or any of the other avenues you find interesting below… don’t hesitate to contact us at sandpointbistroathome@gmail.com to set up a coffee date! We are a woman based entrepreneurial building company who thrives on collaboration and enjoys aiding anyone and everyone on their professional journey!

My name is Adreeanna Black and I am a long time cook turned Professional Personal Chef turned Culinary instructor, a 501(c)3 Nonprofit director and creator of 7B Culinary Connections Inc., a Precision Nutrition Coach, a Personal Trainer for Pre and Postnatal Women and just an overall food and health fanatic.  

I love to cook–it’s as simple as that. Although juggling work and raising children may prove to be difficult at times, I find my balance in the kitchen. In the last 10 years, I’ve learned firsthand how difficult it is to balance a career, family, and time for myself. Being able to relate to friends, families, and coworkers, I’ve learned that we all have something in common: our lives can sometimes be too busy to enjoy. It’s not the easiest of tasks to try to plan a dinner or party without some sort of help–the hours spent planning, shopping, preparing and cleaning up alone almost make it impossible to completely enjoy. Luckily, I’ve found doing all of these things to be relaxing, as I don’t think there is anything more satisfying than providing people with a quality, wholesome meal.

I decided to do some research into becoming a Professional Personal Chef shortly after our dinner. Soon after, I came upon the American Personal and Private Chef Association (APPCA) and have since been able to start my own business–a business in which I truly enjoy the work I do.

With 13 years in the restaurant industry and 10 years as a cook/chef, I have learned that quality trumps quantity. Although working for restaurants had been an enjoyable learning experience, I became ready to bring my love for food, flavor and people into the homes of those who enjoy freeing up their time and living life–Bistro at Home will get your family back to the table without the fuss.

Learning through work

Growing up in Sandpoint, I have found most of my inspiration throughout my involvement in local restaurants. Although I may have originally started out in the restaurant industry at 15 just to “pay the bills,” the experience and knowledge I quickly gained began to cultivate a dream my young self had never imagined. While growing up in less than desirable circumstances, the people of Spud’s Waterfront Grill became a family to me in the absence of my own. Being able to work and grow with the kind of people Spuds had throughout the years proved not only to be valuable emotionally, but also provided me with a solid foundation in a culinary sense. Specializing in Quality-Fresh Ingredients, one of the basic principles upon which Bistro at Home was founded, came from preparing everything from scratch at Spuds, from the delightful dressings to the elaborate soups, down the mouthwatering desserts.

Spuds may have planted the seed of my culinary aspirations, but eventually it left me with a thirst for more–the thirst only a change of venue could quench. Although saying goodbye to Spuds was by no means easy, I eventually made my way to Trinity at City Beach, Sandpoint’s premier waterfront dining experience. With support from the exemplary management and superior kitchen staff, I was personally able to cook under some of Sandpoint’s finest chefs, as well as broaden my knowledge of fine cuisine. With a bit more experience under my belt, it was ultimately this fast-paced and demanding environment that allowed me pinpoint exactly what I wanted from my culinary dreams–more time with my family. Creating Bistro at Home provided me with the opportunity to have the best of both worlds–showcasing the exceptional culinary skills my gourmet cuisine embodies, without the physical time restriction a high quality restaurant demands.

School

Although the general amount of my culinary knowledge has come directly from hands-on restaurant experience under some of the finest Chefs and Cooks Sandpoint has to offer, I personally am always wanting to learn more. Spatial awareness, proper care for kitchen tools and appliances, and time maintenance are extremely valuable, restaurant learned techniques and tendencies, however, knowing correct terminology and proper technical execution of dishes make for the betterment of a chef’s career. Whereas physically attending a school would, again, take away from family time, through my APPCA certification, I was able to enroll in the self-paced Escoffier Culinary school, allowing me to be a mother, work full time, help create Bistro at Home and complete my education.

Why I Chose to become a Professional Personal Chef

Regardless of how supportive a family can be, restaurant life takes its toll on everyone. After contributing many years and thousands of hours in the kitchen, my family unfortunately became accustomed to never really seeing Mom. With a 5 year old and almost 3 year old at the time, I hadn’t realized how much I had been missing out on while in pursuit of my dream. 

Although it was extremely difficult for me to walk away from the restaurant business, family was, and always will be, more important than any dream I found myself chasing. After months of constant requests to teach cooking classes and a few private cooking sessions in previous customer’s homes, I decided there must be a way I could maintain availability to my family and still do what I loved. When I came across The American Personal and Private Chef Association (APPCA), my dreams came true. Being able to start my own business with the support of the APPCA has undoubtedly been the greatest accomplishment of my life, aside from my wonderful family of course. Knowing just how important family is, I decided the main focus of my business must provide other families with the opportunity to enjoy one another, as well as a luxurious wholesome meal. Whether it be a preferred fine dining experience or a meal like Mama would make, I’ll be sure to keep the family connection alive–Bistro at Home will bring your family back to the table, just as it has mine.

2017 was an adventure to say the least. After experiencing a near fatal delivery of my third child and thereafter watching my son try survive having been delivered at gestation of 27 weeks, I was humbled with the experience of having lived between the NICU and Ronald Mcdonald House in Spokane for 3 months. The immense support we received in our bubble of families who also had sick children and were forced to live away from home- I found a new sense of community I had never before. After we came home, I decided I wanted to find a way to give back to our local community in Bonner County and Sandpoint, Idaho.  A youth culinary 501(c)3 non-profit was born. 

In addition to teaching the community about rescuing produce and starting free community food pantries all across Bonner County, we also initiated kids cooking classes. After connecting with the local school district we had the opportunity to educate 160 children (grades k-6th) in the LPOSD afterschool programs on subjects such as Recipe developments, food wasted prevention, vitamin sources, tastes, textures, pallet exploration, stove top safety, sanitation….and so much more. These 1 hour long sessions were enough to get all of these kids curious enough to WANT to eat their vegetables and force their parents to allow them into the kitchen. 

That, my friends, was my favorite accomplishment as a chef.  

As a Chef, Caterer, Mom, Culinary Educator, Non-profit Director…. Wouldn’t I have enough to think about to keep me busy? Here are some words to live by

“Live as if you were to die tomorrow. Learn as if you were to live forever.”

– Mahatma Gandhi

My heart and soul thrives when I get the opportunity to learn more. Seeing as I nearly died 5 years ago… I knew I couldn’t let this brain, curiosity and compassion go to waste. This education avenue has made me more confident in my field and it allows me to meet new people everyday and help them on their nutrition journey.

After receiving my Precision Nutrition Certification- my first goal was to reach Women, specifically moms, who could just use a bit of support with their goals. My mission is to make health an obtainable goal and rid the stigma of it being a punishment. As a mom, I know first hand that its near impossible for us to make ourselves on our own priority list. I wanted to change that.

Through simple means, a little education, an online facebook support group and a whole lot of vulnerability from some seriously fantastic moms… I was able to form a nutrition support coaching group under the Bistro at Home company. Priority #MOM was born (0ur logo is still in the works by a local art teacher- Stay Tuned! )

In this group the women shared their lives, getting their children in the kitchen to cook with them, their families and holidays, the food they eat, what they enjoyed, their struggles, their guilty food pleasures ….. They also shared their ideas, recipes, articles they enjoyed, and kept eachother motivated. Even though each of them was reluctant to share their weight with their nutrition coach(me) in the beginning- they learned that weight doesn’t have to be the focal point for attaining better health through nutrition.

With access to meal portion recommendations, food/emotion journals, a few informational videos, access to a health recipe database- They became confident in themselves, made minor tweaks, and are staying motivated to feel better! Completely changing their mindset about food. Isn’t that beautiful? I think so.

Now, you’ve probably guessed that I like to stay busy and have a knack for learning…

Currently I am a Certified Personal Trainer and Pre and Post natal coaching specialist. I am working towards additional CPT certifications through National Academy of Sports Medicine. Not only do I enjoy knowing how to cook food, make it tasty, make health food delicious, educate children on skills to be successful in the kitchen and help adult clients on nutrition….I’ll soon be able to show how to nourish bodies through physical instruction, motivation and individual customize exercise prescriptions.

Thank you for getting to know who I am. Keep learning my friends.