West Side Board votes to build new mailhouse - Seven Lakes Times

NEWS July 8, 2011 Seven Lakes Times 9
Goldie Toon – a brand new US Citizen
by Laura Douglass
Times Reporter
Just in time to enjoy the
Fourth of July holiday, popular
local chef Goldie Toon
has a most personal reason
to celebrate a bit more this
year: she became a United
States citizen.
“Citizenship was never really
a big issue for me; but
now that it’s done, I’m very
happy,” she told The Times.
On the last Friday of June,
Toon went to Raleigh to join
forty-eight applicants, representing
twenty countries,
in reciting the Oath of Allegiance
to the U.S.
But it was simply a glitch
in renewing her driver’s
license this past Spring that
finally set the wheels of citizenship
in motion.
“About ten years ago, I
started the process; but then
I opened my business and
it was put on the backburner,”
explained Toon.
That business, of course,
is the well-known Goldie’s
Gourmet in West End, which
provides packaged dinners,
soups, salads, and desserts,
in addition to catering services.
Born in the Belgian Congo,
where her father owned a
coffee plantation, Toon was
just a young girl, when that
African nation gained their
independence and her family
was forced to leave. Rather
than settle back in Belgium,
her father began farming Belgium
endive in New Jersey
and, later, served as the head
gardener for many years on
the Doris Duke estate.
“My father can grow anything,”
explained Toon. Give
him some dirt and he will
make something grow out of
it. And that’s what he did:
every morning he got up and
did what he loved to do.”
As the eldest daughter of
five children, Toon didn’t get
to spend a lot of time playing
in the dirt, but was instead
busy helping her mother in
the kitchen.
“I hated it,” she laughed.
“My mother was a very good
cook. Every day she would
make soup. With five children,
she needed it to fill us
up.”
Once in college, Toon vowed
to stay out of the kitchen;
but when friends started
hosting dinner parties she
couldn’t resist trying her
hand at it . . . because she
knew she could do better.
“It just sort of evolved into
catering,” said Toon. “I’m just
passionate about food. I wake
up thinking about what I’m
going to make and eat. I read
cook books all the time and
I am always curious to try
different things.”
While her mother taught
her the basics, Toon describes
herself as a self-taught chef.
“There is a misconception
that all chefs go to culinary
school. Passion in cooking
is a lot more important than
schooling,” she said. “Anyone
can follow a cook book and
read a recipe, but without
love it won’t taste the same.”
Together with her husband,
Alan, Toon lived in Orlando,
Florida, for eighteen years,
where she was a personal
chef and then caterer, before
settling in Southern Pines
and then Seven Lakes North.
Seven years ago, the couple
opened Goldie’s Gourmet —
and have since enjoyed a
thriving business that offers
an ever-changing seasonal
menu of delicious daily soups
and dinners.
“Every time I make something,
I want to try to make
it better than ever before,”
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said Toon. “I think that is
what keeps me in business.
I love it! It’s not just for the
sake of an income. You have
to have passion for what you
do.”
Goldie’s Gourmet is located
Brand new US Citizen Goldie Toon
on Highway 211 in West End
near the post office and is
open Monday to Friday from
11:00 am to 6:30 pm. Delivery
services are available,
please call 673-2211 for more
information.
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