Emma Bengtsson & Kristen Murray at Feast Portland
b'Emma Bengtsson and Kristen Murray may have worked at NYC\\u2019s Aquavit a decade apart and currently live on separate coasts, but HRN host Dana Cowin finds the common threads in their extraordinary careers. Tune in to hear about their influential grandmothers and pastry chef beginnings. You\\u2019ll come away with a sense of what it takes to make dreams come true in the culinary world. \\n\\nChef Emma Bengtsson was named Executive Chef of Aquavit in 2014, after four years as Executive Pastry Chef at the restaurant. As Aquavit\\u2019s Executive Chef she has garnered (and retained) three stars from The New York Times and two stars from Michelin, the second female chef in the U.S. accorded that honor. Prior to moving to New York, Emma worked at some of Sweden\\u2019s most renowned restaurants, including the two-Michelin starred Edsbacka Krog, Restaurant Prinsen, and Operak\\xe4llaren. Emma attended Stockholm\\u2019s Hotel and Restaurant School after years of cooking at home with her mother and grandmother in Falkenberg, on the west coast of Sweden.\\n\\nAs a little girl, Kristen Murray grew up surrounded by her great aunt\\u2019s vegetable garden: sweet peas, peppers, lettuces, herbs, raspberry bushes, and persimmon, fig and kumquat trees. Kristen\\u2019s professional pastry and culinary career has been shaped by adventures in San Francisco, New York City, Boston and France. Prior to moving to Portland, Kristen assisted Les Nouvelles M\\xe8res Cuisini\\xe8res at Le Picnic in Courchevel, France, where she had the opportunity to work with pastry goddess Christine Ferber, who left an impressionable mark to say the least, and Kristin fell in love with the culture and people. Portland has become Kristen\\u2019s second home to New England and her travels in France. Her dream restaurant and pastry shop is a deeply personal project for Murray from design, detail, to food. It is to encompass her Norwegian heritage with her love of French culture and cuisine and of course, all things pastry, thus, M\\xc5URICE: A Pastry Luncheonette is born.'