Alejandra Ramos is a culinary and lifestyle writer, food blogger, and culinary educator. She is the creator of AlwaysOrderDessert.com, an internationally recognized home cooking and entertaining blog and lifestyle platform through which she shares her original from-scratch recipes, cooking tips, do-it-yourself crafting tutorials, and ideas for creative and inspired entertaining. In April 2011, Alejandra quit her corporate job and founded Alejandra Ramos Culinary & Lifestyle, a culinary concierge service providing individualized culinary workshops, custom monthly menu planning, real food coaching, kitchen and pantry makeovers, private cooking parties, and intimate small-group cooking classes.
Alejandra has appeared as a guest on Emeril's Table and Martha Stewart Living Radio, and has hosted cooking segments for Fox News. Her recipes and expert advice have been featured in O Magazine, Real Simple, Cosmopolitan, SHAPE, Bust, ReadyMade.com, Saveur, BonAppetit.com, Relish, MarthaStewart.com, FineCooking.com, FoxNews.com, The Times of London, The New York Times, The New York Post, The New York Daily News, The Wall Street Journal, The Kitchn, and AOL Slashfood, among many others. Always Order Dessert has been called one of the "Best of the Web" by Saveur.com and listed as one of Gourmet Live's "Favorite Blogs." The leading new media website Mashable.com named Alejandra one of the top "55 Foodies to Follow on Twitter."
Innovative Culinary Lifestyle
A passionate believer that good meals begin with the selection of real foods and quality, unprocessed ingredients, Alejandra launched her culinary concierge business with the introduction of an innovative series of Shop & Store Workshops that begin with a guided grocery tour and end in the client's home with a one-on-one lesson on food storage and ingredient preparation. Through these tours, clients experience hands-on lessons on healthy and seasonal shopping practices, learn how to communicate with grocery employees, and how to organize their kitchen so as to become efficient and thoughtful cooks. A version of this course aimed at teens instills these same practices in young cooks, setting them up for a lifetime of healthy food decisions. Alejandra also offers intimate dinner party style cooking classes hosted in an elegant professional kitchen, which bring together small groups of students for a relaxed and entertaining evening of cooking, learning, and dining.
To further encourage mindful eating and the home cooking lifestyle, Alejandra also launched a personalized menu planning service for busy parents and professionals, designing custom monthly meal plans complete with seasonal recipes and shopping lists to help streamline the cooking process. By instilling confidence, teaching valuable skills, and taking away the guesswork, Alejandra's engaging workshops and custom menu plans make it possible for her clients to confidently reduce their consumption of processed and fast food by cooking good, whole food for themselves and the people they love.
Background and Culinary Training
Alejandra has been cooking and entertaining others since she was a teenager; she was 16 when she hosted her first dinner party and was known in her college dorm for her elaborate wine and cheese events (still underage, she would carefully select the wines and send an older friend to purchase them). After spending a few too many afternoons skipping classes in order to perfect her madeleine recipe, Alejandra realized that her true passion was in the kitchen.
Appealing to her father's sweet tooth and mother's thirst for learning, she convinced her parents to let her move to Italy to study culinary arts. They agreed, and Alejandra enrolled at Apicius International School of Hospitality in Florence, where she studied cuisine, pastry, and wine with some of the top chefs in Italy, including award-winning pastry chef Andrea Bianchini.
Upon returning to the United States (and a very tiny apartment kitchen!), Alejandra set about translating the skills she learned in the professional kitchen for use by the home cook, developing recipes that are as inspiring and accessible as they are delicious. (She also kept her promise to her father by continuing to provide him with a regular supply of his favorite cakes and pastries.)
Alejandra was previously International Editions Editor of Cosmopolitan magazine at Hearst Magazines International, where she oversaw 16 of the foreign editions of Cosmopolitan in Western Europe, South Africa, Brazil, and Asia. Prior to Cosmopolitan, Alejandra began her media career as a web editor and non-profit digital communications associate, managing websites and online communities for non-profit associations Common Good and the Americans for Libraries Council.
Outside of the kitchen, Alejandra has dedicated her time to raising awareness about the need for media literacy education in the United States, working closely with The LAMP (Learning About Multimedia Project), a New York-based nonprofit that works within communities to help students, parents, and educators develop a healthy relationship with all media. Her interest in particular is on the connection between media literacy and the way we eat, encouraging a developed awareness and understanding of what we’re allowing into our bodies.
Alejandra at Home
Alejandra and Eugene live in the aptly named neighborhood of Sugar Hill in New York City. When not cooking or entertaining, Alejandra likes to spend her time reading, crafting, and pining for the return of AMC's "Mad Men."
Alejandra is a natural on camera and in front of audiences of any size. She is available for television appearances, print inquiries, brand partnerships, and culinary and party consultations.
Please visit the contact page to get in touch!
