Food for thought

IT’S THE SWEET LIFE FOR MICHELE LEPARD KIM ‘82

» In bringing her professional pastry chef skills back home to her kitchen, Michele Lepard Kim ‘82 creates decadent artisan caramels from only local ingredients. Her shop La Petite Occasion, rose of out a desire to switch careers and become a chef. In culinary school, Kim discovered that making confections became second nature – and soon after La Petite Occasion was born.

Why is it so important to build relationships with local farmers and farmers’ markets?

I like to know exactly where our ingredients come from. And like the layers of an onion, it doesn’t stop there. There are ingredients that go into your ingredients. I want to know them all. For example, are your cows fed grass or grain fed? If it’s grain, how much do we know about that grain? When you look at each ingredient and really get to understand its essence, you can get a better handle on the end result. Goodness comes from goodness.

When you travel, do you seek out caramels just to taste? If so, what have you learned from this process?

Yes, we do. And I just did today. While visiting family in Switzerland, I stopped by a local shop. The Swiss caramels had a milder flavor than ours. I was reminded that our goal is to make sure the flavors come through so that each caramel conveys a distinct personality.

Share some of your flavors with us - the absolute crowd favorites, and also some of the more eclectic combinations.

Bacon Bourbon Maple is extremely popular, but our biggest seller is Salted Dark Chocolate. We’ve also been experimenting with a vegan combo, so we created a Coconut Raspberry caramel for the summer berry season.

What do you do in your downtime, just to relax or rejuvenate?

Row, walk, yoga and play video games with my husband and 13-year old son. My son loves to watch Buzzfeed TASTY videos, so we’ve been enjoying recreating what they do online. They’re very entertaining and a little too addicting.

One business skill that you can trace back to University Liggett School is…

English class 1976: We had to repeat a passage from a book that included a name in middle English. There were 10 other students who tried to say the name and failed. When it was my turn, I was nervous, but I nailed it. This exercise taught me focus, patience and confidence. It’s a lesson I use every day.

Photos: By Chris Simpson