Vince Avalos

We have a son in Denver and a daughter in San Francisco. Our son and daughter in law just had their first baby. A little boy who I affectionately call “Handsome Jay”.

The Chef Years

Prior to coming to Charlotte, I worked with luxury hotel chefs in the US, Canada and Caribbean on menus, product selection and recipes.

After attending the Culinary Institute of America, my career was always hotel related.

My very tight knit family immigrated from Mexico to work in the fields. This may be the reason why I could relate to kitchen ingredients and the passion for food.

I won a gold medal at the National Restaurant Association culinary competition in Chicago. I also cooked for presidents from Carter to Clinton at various events and was the personal chef for Bill Marriott at his home in Maryland.

It didn't hurt that my high school home economics teacher saw something in me that I did not see myself. We still keep in contact after all of these years.

Into Fitness

Recently I received my IFTA fitness certification as well as CPR certification.

As a resident of Cresswind they offered water aerobics and I joined the group shortly after arriving so I have been doing it for about three years.

During this time I have learned a variety of routines and like to say our water aerobics is a ‘head-to-toe’ workout.

The classes we attended had limited structure and could easily have been a social event for an hour with friends bobbing up and down in the water. In our community we are known as AquaFriends. Emphasis on ‘friends’.

I had been a runner in my younger days and had some mishaps with legs and extreme workouts.

Water aerobics introduced me to the low-impact option that addressed my needs for a good workout without the pain.

Today the classes start with a warmup and end up with a cool down and in between we work all of the parts of the body. We even take time to work on balance as it seems that at least once per week we hear about a neighbor falling.

Still Cooking..!

Since I was a chef in my previous life it made sense to start up a cooking club at Cresswind. Judy and I started the Food4Thought Cooking Club.

We give demonstrations on a variety of food concepts or themes.

It is a given that at home I like to learn new cooking techniques and food items. I have been delving into the world of sourdough bread for about a year and it is a world of its own.

My reading preference is cooking. Every day I get multiple suggestions that come across my email. Wonder why I am not the size of my house.
For relaxation, I like to read archaeological thrillers which are fictional with a bit of facts thrown in for fun.

On the internet, I like to view workout routines that explain what parts of the body are impacted by a particular movement.
I also have started wood carving. A twist to past ice carving experience.

And then there are darts. A fun way to meet more of the active community while trying not to make a fool of myself on the dart board!