May 19, 2020
At the
age of six, Rosa Ficara had her first experience with desert - her
family had just moved to the desert from Waterbury, CT. Rosa
doesn’t recall much about the move other than the fact that the
desert was much warmer than those Connecticut winters.
As the
first-born of Italian immigrants, Rosa spoke Italian (two dialects)
before she spoke English. At that time, this area of the desert
wasn’t extremely diverse and in school, Rosa found herself
befriending schoolmates in a similar situation – one was
Japanese-American and the other was Korean-American.
At 17,
Rosa was ready to leave the desert and explore, heading down to
University of California Riverside to study language. In addition
to two dialects of Italian, she also speaks French, Spanish, and
English.
While
at college, Rosa sometimes brought friends or roommates back to the
desert to visit and was surprised to hear how cool they thought it
was that she grew up here. Rosa says, “I started to appreciate the
desert through their eyes.”
In this
episode, Rosa describes a few of her global
experiences while still in college, then in a work program, working
for a bank in Switzerland, among other roles and
locations.
On her
return to the U.S. she settled in Culver City – near Los Angeles –
where she discovered Salsa dancing, which has become one of her
greatest passions.
While
in the LA area she felt the urge to change her career path and
enrolled in the California School of Culinary Arts Cordon Bleu in
Pasadena. She thrived in the program until she was injured in a car
accident the day of her baking final. Attempting to complete the
final with a cast on her right arm proved impossible and though she
made it to the International Cuisine curriculum, never officially
graduated from the program. If you’ve ever had the
opportunity to enjoy Rosa’s cooking, you know she’s put her
education to good use.
Rosa
and her business partner, Merilee Kuchon will soon open Roadrunner
Grab & Go, a cold kitchen situated adjacent to the Joshua Tree
National Park Visitor Center.
Having
returned to the desert in 2004, Rosa has gained an appreciation for
the grounding nature that is right outside her door and finds
herself now enjoying the bounty it has to offer. And now she
photographs the snakes, instead of running away from
them.
Follow
Roadrunner Grab & Go on
Instagram.