GiseleinLA

I was born in New Orleans,LA, a fact of which I am extremely proud. Moved to Los Angeles when I was a child, joining the mass migration from Louisiana in the 1950's, but made regular visits back to New Orleans throughout my childhood.

Fall of 1969, turbulent time-left L.A.(I thought for good)and headed to the Bay Area where I attended Mills College in Oakland. Couldn't wait to get to Berkeley. Surprise for me-there were National Guard with bayonets on every corner,and streets filled with dog poop & panhandlers. Back @Mills, we had sit down dinners served by waitresses every night in our fancy dining room. I managed to graduate, lived in Berkeley for a couple of years after that, then moved to the "Big Apple". Spent almost 18 years there. Everyone should live in New York when they are young, but it starts wearing thin when you hit middle age.

Returned to the Bay Area (yippee!)to attend California Culinary Academy where I studied Baking and Pastry Arts. Lived in Berkeley-right next door to where I lived all those years earlier.

1997-back in L.A.(yikes!)where I opened Small Pleasures Catering. My NOLA background continues to informs my taste-not that I cook Louisiana cuisine at Small Pleasures,but everything we cook has layers of flavor built in.

Began writing "life stories" a few years back, and began my 1st blog after the devastation of Hurricane Katrina. That blog has just relocated from:http://painperdu.blogstream.com to:http://painperdublog.com.