Out of the Frying Pan is an empowering memoir that traces Gillian Clark’s rise from a beginner to a top chef. But managing a kitchen also taught her about parenting. With a wealth of experience and wisdom, and a healthy dash of humor, Gillian now shares her life’s recipes, from the solutions she cooked up for parenting challenges to her favorite culinary creations.

In the prime of her life, Gillian Clark abandoned the corporate world to pursue her passion---making mouthwatering food with fresh, homegrown ingredients.  When she became a single parent with two young daughters, though, Gillian had to reconsider her dreams. Moving to the country and running a small, artisanal farm were put on the back burner---supporting her family had to come first. 

But Gillian’s drive to make delicious food was relentless. She finished her culinary degree, survived the tedious prep work of her first cooking job and the difficulty of training during the day and raising two girls at night, and confronted the challenges of working her way up from the bottom in a profession where only the strongest survive.

Beating intense odds, Gillian is now head chef and proprietor of the successful and popular Colorado Kitchen, which is ranked among the top 100 restaurants in Washington, D.C. This puts her simple café in the company of the city’s finest dining establishments.

Touching and joyful, Out of the Frying Pan rivals any parenting book and is also chock-full of more than forty delicious recipes, from her first “soup of the day” to her family’s Sunday brunch waffles---even the pink medicine placebo she whipped up for one of her daughters.

Her inspirational advice on how she raised her daughters while never giving up her dream is a gem for  parents and foodies alike and will fit at just about any table.

"'At 32, Clark abandoned a career in marketing to enroll in culinary school and fulfill her dream of becoming a chef. A divorce from her alcoholic husband followed, and Clark, chopping carrots for minimum wage, was left to raise their two young daughters on her own. Repeatedly comparing being a chef to motherhood, she describes all of the young cooks she helped to train as her 'children.' Reflecting Clark's ongoing struggle to balance work and family, the book's 40-plus recipes include her eldest daughter's 'Favorite Cornflake-Coated Pork Chops' and the 'Pink Medicine Placebo' administered to her youngest after a greasy 'Braised Cube Steak' caused her to slip off the monkey bars. Clark's enthusiasm for drawing people to the table is engaging, but she prefers to make excuses for her high job turnover, including several firings. In 2000, she invested her savings in her own restaurant in Washington, D.C., in a neighborhood where cloth napkins stood out more than vagrants. After a rocky start, Colorado Kitchen now often has a line around the block, and Clark thrives on being her own boss. The emphasis on family adds a personal dimension to this memoir about both comfort food and commitment to success.' Publishers Weekly (Copyright Reed Business Information, Inc.)" Publishers Weekly (Copyright Reed Business Information, Inc.)

Gillian Clark is a nationally known chef who runs the popular Washington, D.C., restaurant Colorado Kitchen. She is a commentator for NPR’s Weekend All Things Considered and has been featured on the Food Network as well as in The Washington Post and The New York Times.