Biography

If you need to know one thing about me, it's that I make damn good food. I love to cook and I love to share my food with friends.

I never set out to become a chef, it just sort of happened (as many of the best things in life do). My family tree is a crazy hodpodge of English and Welsh (and even a mystery relative or two). I have an uncle who is a hermit and who lives on an island on the northernmost point of Scotland without electricity or a phone (this presented some unique culinary challenges while I was there!), another relation that only lives on a boat, and a few that have been locked in the attic. While I was growing up, I shuffled between Manchester, England, California, Indiana, Pennsylvania, and then back to California again. I've been a vegetarian, a carnivore and everything in between. All of this has given me a uniquely eclectic and fun outlook on life that is reflected in the food I cook.

No matter what else I did, I turned to cooking for comfort and as an excuse to bring my friends together around me. Then my friends began telling their friends about my food. Pretty soon I started getting phone calls requesting I prepare food for people I had never met, catering dinner parties and business events. I took a job as the weekend Executive Chef at the only 5 Diamond, AAA-rated Bed and Breakfast in North America. I met more people and started getting asked to do more events. I started thinking to myself that maybe this was something I could do full time. Crazy thoughts, I told myself. But then I was laid off from my corporate job and my life changed for the better. Suddenly I was free to try something new and follow my dreams.

In the five years since I started Louise's Kitchen Table, I've been the personal chef for many wonderful and prominent families in San Francisco, Montecito and Santa Barbara. I have catered events for the American Red Cross and local wineries including Brander, Tre Anelli, and Consilience. I have won numerous awards and accolades, including Best Dessert at the 2009 Winter Wine Down in Santa Barbara.

All of my life, food has been a passion, a comfort and a joy. I certainly hope to share some of my experience with you and learn something new with you as well.

"I'll bet what motivated the British to colonize so much of the world is that they were just looking for a decent meal." - Martha Harrison