Confessions of Mike Mooney

Mike Mooney, manager for Epicurean Feast at Blue Cross & Blue Shield of Rhode Island, in Providence, loves grilled lamb chops and cinnamon pecan rolls and dreams of a Hawaiian vacation for some deep-sea diving.

Q. What is the best part of your job?

Interacting with people.

Q. What is the worst part of your job?

Working in the kitchen with the temperature above 120 degrees.

Q. What do you consider to be your greatest achievement?

Mentoring the foodservice students at the local food bank.

Q. What is the most unusual foodservice/catering request you have ever received?

A meal for a dog at a talent show event.

Q. If you weren't in foodservice what would you be doing?

Working with wood.

Q. If you had a time machine what historical event or era would you visit?

Colonial New England, where it all began.

Q. Which talent would you most like to have?

The ability to two putt any green.

Q. If you could change one thing about yourself, what would it be?

My lack of desire to exercise.

Q. What would be your dream vacation?

Hawaii, of course.

Q. What is your favorite meal?

Grilled lamb chops.

Q. If you could eat dinner with anyone living or dead, who would it be?

Bobby Orr.

Q. What is your guilty pleasure?

Cinnamon pecan rolls.

Q. What will people always find in your refrigerator?

Whole milk—to go with the cinnamon pecan rolls.

Q. What is your most treasured possession?

A gumball machine my son made when he was 6.

Q. What food fad do you wish had never started?

The carb-free diet.

Q. What activity is at the top of your bucket list?

Deep-sea diving.

Q. What are your words to live by?

If someone doesn’t have a smile, give them yours.