Local Chef, Author Shares Story of Triumph and Perseverance

The story of Redlands chef-turned-author, Angela Brooks Van Niel, begins in her custom-made kitchen in Redlands. It's there she shares the story of how her business came to be and how her baked goods are gaining traction in the town she calls home. To understand how she got to where she is today, it's necessary to travel back further to her real beginnings in Jacksonville, Fla. — more specifically, inside the kitchen where her grandmother Mamie taught her only granddaughter, at the ripe age of 6, traditional and hearty Southern cooking. After graduating high school, Van Niel took her love of cooking, this family tradition, and the life lessons she learned along the way, to travel across the country to California where she remained after meeting her husband, Pieter Van Niel. Van Niel, who holds both a bachelors and masters degree in theater arts, spent 25 years building a life and family in California. Health issues that sparked in 2007 though, were cause for concern. One day in 2008, Van Niel, who ran a successful real estate company, fell into a coma, in which she remained for four months. Doctors diagnosed her with two rare cancers: Paraneoplasic Syndrome and Lymphoma Type B. The family went through years of doctor's visits and misdiagnoses until she finally met Dr. Amy Pierce at UCLA Medical Center, who, with the help of a Pennsylvania-based specialist, would finally diagnose Van Niel and set her on a treatment plan and a path to recovery. It was this treatment, her faith and the support of her family, that allowed Van Niel to fight her way back to health. Post-treatment, it was during her time at home that Van Niel contemplated her life. That was when she made the decision to get back in touch with her roots: she would tell the story of love and cooking she learned as a young girl in her grandmother's kitchen. The subsequent book of recipes became her first published book: "Simply Fancy Cuisine." The book, which became her therapy, also helped the family find a new beginning. Pieter shared he's “very accepting of his wife's delightful treats." With “Simply Fancy Cuisine” making its way to businesses in the Redlands area, Van Niel would go on to cater for “Restaurant Impossible”, when the reality makeover show's crew recently helped recreate the Mills Creek restaurant. Producer Marc Summers, famous host of Nickelodeon’s "Double Dare" and producer of "Restaurant Impossible," was so entranced by Van Niel's recipes that he offered her further catering opportunities for the production company. Businesses in Redlands would also take on her recipes: local baking supply business Everything Sweet sells daily fresh cupcakes using Van Niel's recipes, selling her Chocolate Coma and Southern Style Humming Bird cupcakes, both of which gained local popularity. Still, "it's quality, not quantity that's most important," for Van Neil, she said. "These recipes are very dear to me and I don’t want to see them just being commercialized. My time with my grandmother and these recipes are my special dedications to her. I am very careful about who I give my products to. I have to be convinced you will care for them the way they need to be to insure the quality and the name behind them.” Connie Johnson, president of the Paralegal Association, said the cupcakes sold at Everything Sweet are "amazing." "I am a huge fan of the Hummingbird cake," she said. "It is incredible. Through a mutual friend I found out about [Van Niel] and I used her for the paralegal association's educational conference and there was none of her food left at the end of the day. She makes it so easy to get such amazing, fresh, and moist food.” Within the next year, Van Niel plans to open her own café. ”I decided to take of control my destiny," she said. "The purpose of beginning all of this was for that reason — taking control of my life — and doing only the things that makes me and my family happy." And she has done as she set out to do. Her second book, “Simply Fancy Cuisine… Just Desserts”, has been published as well and both books are available on Amazon. In the meantime, Van Niel works from her home where she starts everyday with putting her faith first, appreciating her heritage, loving her family and putting it all into her fresh, daily baked goods, delivering them with love.