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I've never had the pleasure of interviewing Chicago pastry chef Gale Gand.

But there's plenty of energy and personality packed into her small 5-foot frame.

Fifty-year old Gand is famous for her Food Network show "Sweet Dreams" and for her popular flagship top-notch Chicago restaurant Tru, which she opened with then-husband Chef Rick Tramonto in 1999.

She's also a member of Macy's Culinary Council, which is why I had the pleasure of watching her chat and bake up a storm.

On Tuesday night, before I attended the press opening for the Broadway in Chicago musical "Camelot" starring Michael York, I stopped by Macy's on State Street to watch Gand's baking demonstrations, along with some demos by fellow Macy's Culinary Council Chef Todd English.

"I know I probably look better on TV," said the bubbly and outspoken Gand, who lives in Wheeling, Ill., with her second husband of 4 years, Jimmy Seidita, an environmental project manager.

"That's because at Food Network, they have make-up and hairstylists and special studio lighting. They even built special counters for my show, because they knew I was only 5 feet."

Gand has an 11-year-old son Giorgio with Tramonto, whom she divorced in 2000, and 2-year-old fraternal twin girls Ella Nora and Ruby Grace with her new husband.

"There's a very high divorce rate in this business of catering and restaurants," Gand told the guests gathered to watch her Macy's demo.

"There are lots of demands and it's very strange hours."

Gand brought a special surprise with her Tuesday night as part of her dessert preparation utensils. For her recipe for madeleines (shell-shaped moist tea cakes), she brought an old, weathered tin mold for madeleines that used to belong to the late Julia Child.

Gand, who began her career as a pastry chef at Chicago's famed Pump Room, appeared on Child's 1996 PBS cooking series "Baking with Julia" and was featured in the best-selling companion cookbook of the same name.

"The first time I was going to bake with Julia's madeleine pan, I noticed it had crumbs still in the crevices and I felt almost like I shouldn't be using it. It felt sacred, like those crumbs were comparable to her ashes."

Gand said she recently appeared on Martha Stewart's daytime talk show, where she also made her favorite recipe for madeleines. Smiling, she said she not only found 5-foot-10-inch Stewart tall ("especially in her heels!"), but also to be "a little persnickety" in the kitchen. (English, who also has appeared with Stewart in cooking segments nodded in agreement.)

"She didn't like the way I was buttering my pan and said she would never have let her staff get away with buttering her pans that way," the good-natured Gand said.

"She also questioned why I put brown sugar and leavening in my recipe for madeleines, because she doesn't."

But Gand also emphasized she wasn't complaining, especially since she's already booked to appear with Stewart on Stewart's Sirius radio show this month.

"My husband came with me to New York for Martha's show taping, and he loved her show's green room," Gand said.

"Not only was there fresh fruit, freshly brewed hot tea and china and neatly pressed linens, Martha serves her own homemade warm scones and homemade jams in her show's green room."

The opinions expressed are solely those of the writer. He can be reached at ppotempa@nwitimes.com or 219.852.4327.

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