My name is Aimee Giard.
I'm the executive
chef at MT's Local,
formally Michael Timothy's.
And I'm a 2006 graduate
of Southern New Hampshire
University's culinary program.
Basically I run the back of
the house of the restaurant,
from staffing, to ordering,
to specials daily,
and menu planning
as seasons change.
My culinary career started in a
pizza shop, went to a snack bar
in a golf course, decided
to go to culinary school
and pursue it further,
did my co-op at SURF
and landed on full-time job.
Since then, I've moved over
across the street to Michael
Timothy's, became
sous-chef, worked my way up
and became executive chef.
Then we closed Michael Timothy's
end reopened as MT's Local.
We focus more on
local ingredients.
So dealing with all
the local farmers
and creating a relationship
that benefits everyone.
I chose Southern New
Hampshire University
because it was
close to my house.
I lived in Kingsboro.
I was able to commute
daily, and I was also
able to keep a full-time
job while going to school.
The culinary program at
SNHU taught everything
from the basics to
the classic techniques
to the things you
don't necessarily
learn in a restaurant.
I had one teacher that I
considered him to be a mentor,
and he helped me
get my internship
with Michael Buckley at SURF.
And he was there from the
first day that I started
and there the day I graduated.
It was a great
personal relationship
that I'm not sure I would
have found somewhere else.
A typical day would be I come
in around 10 in the morning.
I do all my office work first
dealing with my schedule
or any emails that I've gotten.
Then I proceed to go
up to the kitchen,
figure out what I
have for specials.
Specials have to be done by
3:00 in order for our boards.
We open at 4 PM.
Then it becomes all
chaos in the kitchen
until 4:00 when we're open.
And usually we start
really rolling around 5:00.
So we'll do a couple
more prep jobs
and then cook until 10:30,
11' o'clock, go home.
I absolutely love it.
I eat, sleep, and
breathe this place.
To learn more about the
culinary program visit SNHU.edu.
