It has always been a lifelong dream for Bradford resident Eunice Monteiro to open her own catering business.
That dream recently became a reality after spending countless hours baking at home throughout the pandemic and wanting to share her delicacies with the community.
With the help and support of her family, she opened Monteiro Catering two months ago, featuring European cuisine, specifically Portuguese desserts.
"It's going very well, we've been getting a lot of great feedback," she said.
Monteiro came to Canada from Portugal almost 40 years ago and has been living in Bradford for the past seven years. She moved from Woodbridge with her husband, Agostinho, after their three sons moved to the area, and wanted to be closer to family. She has 10 grandchildren — two boys and eight girls — and loves baking special treats for them.
She has recently come out with her own sample box of various desserts for customers to try including chicken empanadas, rissois, fofinhas, sweet carrot bites, bolos be bacalhau and natas.
Growing up in Portugal, she was always in the kitchen with her family, learning how to make traditional cuisine and desserts.
"I love to experiment in the kitchen always," she said.
Once she came to Canada, she perfected her culinary skills, tweaking the traditional family recipes, getting accustomed to North American ingredients.
Whether a baby shower or birthday party, Monteiro's baked treats would always be requested at all family celebrations.
Monteiro does all the baking on her own and says her favourite place to be is in the kitchen.
"What better way to get a taste of the full menu, than coming up with a sample box to try a bit of everything," she said, noting after the first week of launching the box, she had returning customers.
Her clients are mostly from Bradford, but she has a few from the Innisfil area as well. She is happy to be offering authentic, Portuguese cooking to the southern Simcoe County community.
She can always be found writing down recipes from books and TV shows, then adjusting them to make them her own.
Her dream is to one day open her own storefront, but for now, is happy selling to customers online.
To learn more about Monteiro's business, visit her Instagram page @monteirocatering.
