Mien Muse | Chef Erica Lovelace @ericalovelacecooks

Chef Erica Lovelace is a customer and by chance we came across her Instagram page and loved watching the delicious recipes she creates! For Mother's Day, she created her devil eggs recipe with her mom, with both of them wearing Mien jumpsuits. We love seeing different generations enjoying and looking gorgeous in Mien's pieces. See Lacey's easy step-by-step video via the link at the end of the post! 
Erica wears the Willow Jumpsuit.
Erica's mom wears the Lakeside Jumpsuit.
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Hello Chef Lovelace! Please introduce yourself to our readers.

My name is Erica Lovelace. I am a marketing professional and social media content creator. Last year, I attended the San Francisco Cooking School with the sole intention of becoming a cookbook writer and culinary educator. Now, I spend my time creating educational cooking content on social media using the skills I acquired in school to help people improve their home cooking. 

How did you get into cooking? Did you grow up wanting to become a chef?
My maternal grandparents owned Chinese restaurants in Jacksonville, Florida. That side of the family has always been obsessed with cooking and eating together. From my dad’s mother, I learned how to bake and make fruit preserves. Cooking has always been a huge part of my life and I knew the next inevitable step was to go to culinary school and start writing a blog to document all of the amazing recipes I’ve been taught but also create on my own.

Summer is coming up. What are some tips you can share on cooking for large parties?
Prep as much as you can in advance. Do not wait till the day of to do everything. In order to figure out where you should start, make a prep list. We used these religiously in cooking school. Roughly breakdown all of the critical steps for each dish in the order of execution. Also, do not overburden yourself with complicated food. People love simplicity. Just find something you’re good at and execute that well. Even if you don’t, as Julia Child says, never apologize! 

What is one tip you have for someone who wants to start cooking?

Read cookbooks! Whether you check them out from the library, purchase at a thrift store or buy from local independent bookstores (shout out to Omnivore Books in SF and Now Serving in LA), digest as much information on your favorite cuisine as you can. Also, I have found that Youtube is fabulous for learning complicated techniques like baking croissants and butchery.
See Erica's video of her deviled egg recipe HERE.