WHAT WAS GOING THROUGH YOUR HEAD BEFORE SERVICE?

Just before the second night of dinner service, I twisted my ankle on an oil/water spot on the Red Teams kitchen floor. Luckily I caught myself and I didn’t fall on my butt, which would have been awful since I have fallen in the past and damaged my disc. All I felt was pain and a million things were going through my head. For instance, “No, not an injury so early into Hell’s Kitchen!” was one, and to list a few, “I let myself down, my family, my boyfriend and all my mentors.”, then “NO!!! $250,000 and head chef at the Borgata.”, and finally “I let my fans down.”

Even though I felt like an incomplete chef. I had to continue, and do my best. My drive was determination. I don’t know how well I would perform on one leg, so to speak. I had to see how far I can go, so I decided to work through service and see how I would do. Before service medic iced and elevated the leg till it was time for service. They were very helpful and I thank them for being there. “Thank you!”

HOW DID YOU THINK YOU DID DURING AND END OF SERVICE?

Well, wouldn’t you know it that I was assigned the garnish station? I think this is a tough station to handle on one leg, because I had to prepare all the components for all the entrees and communicate with the team. Plus, if a teammate didn’t hear the order, the person on garnish has to go up the line and read the order back to the team. All this and handle the pain…man I really felt like I was in Hell. At this point, the thought of volunteering to leave crossed my mind.

 If I did volunteer would I be letting my teammates down? Yes, because they saw me as a very strong member of the team. All these thoughts were going through my head and I just didn’t know what to do. And then at the very last moment I figured that I need to look out for myself and my health. And just the thought of losing future challenges and if the cause was me I would not be able to live with that. At the very last minute I just decided that that would be the best thing to do. I had to volunteer to leave.

WHAT HAPPENED AFTER YOU LEFT HELL’S KITCHEN BECAUSE OF YOUR INJURY?

I was rushed to the ER.  I really would have liked to stick around a lot longer, but the pain was draining. But the decision wasn’t an easy one for me; my teammates considered me one of the best in the competition. They said that Lacey and Colleen [the two Red team members up for elimination] together wouldn’t meet half of me. Even Chef Ramsay was disappointed in the turn of events. Normally the head chef asks his eliminated contestants to return their chef jackets as they leave, but Ramsay asked me to keep mine as a symbol of my talent and courage during my time on the show. Just the fact that Chef Gordon Ramsay said those wonderful things to me and gave me a chef’s jacket, I melted inside. I felt so honored that he let me be in his kitchen and work with him side by side. It was great. Thank you friends/teammates, Chef Ramsay, and FOX for everything.

AS TIME PASTED SINCE THE INJURY, HOW DID YOU FEEL?

I was really pissed off that I had to do that. I know I could have been one of the finalists or even win the entire competition. It was really difficult to except my decision due to an injury. I had to take sometime to reflect and try to make the best out of my decision. Today, I see that I received great praise from Chef Gordon Ramsay and honor by receiving a chef coat. Most importantly, my fans were so supportive and demonstrated great love and concern for my health that I wouldn’t be able to pull through if it wasn’t for FOX and my fantastic fans. Thank you so much.

IF FOX CALLED YOU BACK, WOULD YOU CONSIDER GOING BACK TO MORE HELL’S KITCHEN?

I’m not sure. One side of me says, “Hell’s yeah!” and another side of me says, “Why would I want to, I’m happy where I am?” I would have to think about it more.

WHAT ARE YOU DOING TODAY?

Now that I had time to heal, and I’m back on my two feet! I have this great website, I am working on a business with the help of my fans, I will be working with Jee Young Lee (LPGA golfer extraordinaire) with “Meals on Wheels” and working on Healthy Baked Goods for treat-lovers that cannot have gluten and/or sugar in their diet. I am still consulting restaurants, keeping busy with cooking classes and demonstrations, catering fantastic parties, and I am finding events to hold where I can contribute some of the profits to “Love146” (is a charity that stops child sexual exploitation in South Asia, www.love146.org ).

Finally, I am working on my new cookbook, “The Mood Swing Cookbook”. Thought I had a publisher, but I am looking for a new one. If anyone knows a publisher that would be interested, give a shout out to me.

 

 

Tags: Charity, ChefJi, ChefJi's injury, cooking classes, cooking demonstrations, Gluten Free, Healthy Baked Goods, Hell's Kitchen, Love146, LPGA, Meal's on Wheels, Restaurant Consulting, Sugar free