Arleen Lloyd
Arleen Lloyd has been in love with cooking since she was 5 years old. Her fascination with
creating culinary magic with a few basic ingredients was the inspiration for this life long love
affair. Her first experiments at baking produced cookies that resembled hockey pucks which
only a mother would dare to eat and only when they were hot! Graduating to an Easy Bake
Oven, her repertoire grew to include small cakes and brownies. Once she was tall enough,
she began creating mouthwatering delights in a real kitchen and the rest is her story.
Having followed the standard progression after college of becoming a corporate executive in
marketing, Arleen found herself constantly gravitating towards kitchen equipment and all it
had to offer. Her travels were always an exploration into the nuances of cultural cooking, the
how, the why and the joy of eating each creation. Finally, in 1987 she realized her passion
and opened a catering business with both wholesale and retail divisions in Miami, FL. Her
days were filled with supplying restaurants and cafeterias with specialty baked goods and
catering extravagant events for both corporate clients and individuals. Life became a 24/7
adventure in all that is gastronomy!
Arleen’s culinary range includes the cuisine of many cultures, as well as, the fine art of pastry
and chocolate arts. Her years of experience creating delectable foods that nurture both the
body and spirit emphasize her philosophy that cooking is a meditation on all that is sacred.
Life is too short not to enjoy the pleasure of creating a good meal, that is uncomplicated and
without pretense, to share with family and friends. There
is no better way to feed the mind, body and spirit!
She is currently the Executive Chef of Alchemy of the Hearth, a cooking school in Escondido,
CA and teaches classes within San Diego County.
Saundra Pennington
From her first job in a bakery, where you could eat anything you wanted, but couldn’t take it
home to pediatric nurse, to a degree in art with emphasis on 3 dimensional design, fiber,
fabrics, sculpture and drawing, to event planning for Fortune 500 companies, then to
architectural renderings; Saundra finally found her way to her love, the world of sugar, flour
and the art of your hands; the world of baking and patisserie.
Over 15 years ago, while walking through Costco with her family, her son sniffing the air
asked a simple question, “what’s that smell?” Saundra’s husband answered, “that’s baking
son, that doesn’t happen in our house!” All Saundra could do was stand there with her mouth
open. Her mother was a “blow torch cook” and her family was the first in the neighborhood to
own a microwave, Saundra refused to believe she would follow suit.
Disturbed by the prospect of denying her inner most longing to bake, she enrolled in a cake
decorating class out of curiosity. She was intrigued by the artistic element of the class but was
thoroughly disappointed with the lack of flavor and quality of the cakes. She decided to
explore further and began taking numerous classes until it was apparent she needed to go to
baking and patisserie school. While in school, she promptly quit her job and went to work in
the baking production department of Costco during the busiest season of the year, in order to
get the experience she needed in a commercial kitchen. Upon graduation from North County
Culinary Academy she has developed her skill set further and launched her own line of sweet
morsels under the name of 4 & 20 Blackbirds. Saundra is also the head pastry chef at
Alchemy of the Hearth, helping to develop curriculum and product lines for the wholesale
market. She is focused upon making exquisite creations that really taste good and make your
heart sing.
Irene Gamboa
After 30 years with AT&T, Irene retired and became a lady of leisure. Unfortunately, leisure
isn’t something Irene understands too well. She decided to embark on a journey, one that she
never had time for in the past, but that she felt she always needed to do. She started to take
cooking classes. One class led to another and before she knew it, she was hooked beyond
her wildest imaginings. She knew she had to be a part of something so wonderfully magical
and couldn’t understand why it took her so long to find out.
Today, Irene is the Alchemy of the Hearth’s Kitchen Manager. From chefs to interns, she
keeps everyone on track, and with her eye for detail, she makes sure everything runs
smoothly and is perfect. Always, honing her skills, she also helps create curriculum, recipes
and promotions for the company. Simply put, without Irene we’d be lost!
Chef Instructors - click on their name for their bio
Michael Ciruzzi
Manjula Jain
Susan Jasin
Joy Jameson
Wendy Kimball
Lindsay Natale
Don Pennington
Robin & Marc Simpson
Deanna Smith
Arleen Lloyd has been in love with cooking since she was 5 years old. Her fascination with
creating culinary magic with a few basic ingredients was the inspiration for this life long love
affair. Her first experiments at baking produced cookies that resembled hockey pucks which
only a mother would dare to eat and only when they were hot! Graduating to an Easy Bake
Oven, her repertoire grew to include small cakes and brownies. Once she was tall enough,
she began creating mouthwatering delights in a real kitchen and the rest is her story.
Having followed the standard progression after college of becoming a corporate executive in
marketing, Arleen found herself constantly gravitating towards kitchen equipment and all it
had to offer. Her travels were always an exploration into the nuances of cultural cooking, the
how, the why and the joy of eating each creation. Finally, in 1987 she realized her passion
and opened a catering business with both wholesale and retail divisions in Miami, FL. Her
days were filled with supplying restaurants and cafeterias with specialty baked goods and
catering extravagant events for both corporate clients and individuals. Life became a 24/7
adventure in all that is gastronomy!
Arleen’s culinary range includes the cuisine of many cultures, as well as, the fine art of pastry
and chocolate arts. Her years of experience creating delectable foods that nurture both the
body and spirit emphasize her philosophy that cooking is a meditation on all that is sacred.
Life is too short not to enjoy the pleasure of creating a good meal, that is uncomplicated and
without pretense, to share with family and friends. There
is no better way to feed the mind, body and spirit!
She is currently the Executive Chef of Alchemy of the Hearth, a cooking school in Escondido,
CA and teaches classes within San Diego County.
Saundra Pennington
From her first job in a bakery, where you could eat anything you wanted, but couldn’t take it
home to pediatric nurse, to a degree in art with emphasis on 3 dimensional design, fiber,
fabrics, sculpture and drawing, to event planning for Fortune 500 companies, then to
architectural renderings; Saundra finally found her way to her love, the world of sugar, flour
and the art of your hands; the world of baking and patisserie.
Over 15 years ago, while walking through Costco with her family, her son sniffing the air
asked a simple question, “what’s that smell?” Saundra’s husband answered, “that’s baking
son, that doesn’t happen in our house!” All Saundra could do was stand there with her mouth
open. Her mother was a “blow torch cook” and her family was the first in the neighborhood to
own a microwave, Saundra refused to believe she would follow suit.
Disturbed by the prospect of denying her inner most longing to bake, she enrolled in a cake
decorating class out of curiosity. She was intrigued by the artistic element of the class but was
thoroughly disappointed with the lack of flavor and quality of the cakes. She decided to
explore further and began taking numerous classes until it was apparent she needed to go to
baking and patisserie school. While in school, she promptly quit her job and went to work in
the baking production department of Costco during the busiest season of the year, in order to
get the experience she needed in a commercial kitchen. Upon graduation from North County
Culinary Academy she has developed her skill set further and launched her own line of sweet
morsels under the name of 4 & 20 Blackbirds. Saundra is also the head pastry chef at
Alchemy of the Hearth, helping to develop curriculum and product lines for the wholesale
market. She is focused upon making exquisite creations that really taste good and make your
heart sing.
Irene Gamboa
After 30 years with AT&T, Irene retired and became a lady of leisure. Unfortunately, leisure
isn’t something Irene understands too well. She decided to embark on a journey, one that she
never had time for in the past, but that she felt she always needed to do. She started to take
cooking classes. One class led to another and before she knew it, she was hooked beyond
her wildest imaginings. She knew she had to be a part of something so wonderfully magical
and couldn’t understand why it took her so long to find out.
Today, Irene is the Alchemy of the Hearth’s Kitchen Manager. From chefs to interns, she
keeps everyone on track, and with her eye for detail, she makes sure everything runs
smoothly and is perfect. Always, honing her skills, she also helps create curriculum, recipes
and promotions for the company. Simply put, without Irene we’d be lost!
Chef Instructors - click on their name for their bio
Michael Ciruzzi
Manjula Jain
Susan Jasin
Joy Jameson
Wendy Kimball
Lindsay Natale
Don Pennington
Robin & Marc Simpson
Deanna Smith
| Alchemy of the Hearth explore the magic of cooking |
Who's Who...
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