About For Love of the Table

Welcome to For Love of the Table!  My name is Paige.  I am a professional chef...although I am no longer working in a professional restaurant kitchen.  I graduated from Le Cordon Bleu in London.  Following that I worked at the award winning American Restaurant in Kansas City under the James Beard Award winning chefs Michael Smith and Debbie Gold.  After spending six years there I left to work and learn in France for a while.  I spent some time in Provence followed by a couple of stints working with Susan Herrmann Loomis in Normandy.  Upon my return to the United States I worked at a delightful little pastry shop in the Kansas City area called The Pastry Goddess.  Following that I started my own private chef service.  While that was getting off the ground I began to work occasionally at The Culinary Center of Kansas City.  At the time the business at The Culinary Center was divided between private events and cooking classes.  I worked for a while exclusively in the private events area but was eventually tapped to teach a class or two.  I have been teaching classes ever since.

Today, I spend most of my time cooking private dinners for my Simple-Food clients and teaching local cooking classes.  The element unifying these two is my desire to make it possible for people to cook and eat well in their own homes.  For Love of the Table was the natural outgrowth of all of this.  Over the past few years I have written a couple of posts about why I cook, why I teach and why I write For Love of the Table.  If you would like to know more about these things, here are the posts:

The beginning...my first post...why I cook

When I changed the name of my blog....why I keep a blog


My goal with For Love of the Table will always be to encourage people to really cook at home...with real ingredients and with good technique.  Sprinkled throughout are nuts and bolts posts on basic (and sometimes not-so-basic) techniques which will hopefully provide the tools to do this.  Most of my posts are devoted to describing recipes that I make at home for our table.  Occasionally I will post recipes that I have prepared through my private dinner service...or in a class.

I test all of the recipes I post myself and make it a priority to make sure that they actually work.  I want anyone who tries them to have good success so that they will want to continue to cook and feed themselves (and their families and friends) well.....  In their own kitchens...  Around their own tables. 

Thanks for visiting.  I hope you will find much to enjoy at For Love of the Table.

11 comments:

Emily said...

Thanks for your great blog! I have enjoyed cooking many of your recipes. I feel much healthier since cooking at home. Thank you for making it fun and easy!

Paige said...

Emily, Thanks so much for taking the time to let me know. It's so great to hear that I have contributed to your cooking (and eating!) pleasure.

Jennifer said...

Paige,
You've changed cooking for our whole family! First-year med student Matt texted me last week asking, "can we make the 'End of Winter Soup' recipe when I'm home for spring break?" We love your food and we love your blog!

Paige said...

Thank you Jennifer. I love it that Matt is enjoying cooking (I hope the soup turns out well!)

Unknown said...

Paige, we have now made the scallops/asparagus dish twice, as well as the salmon/peas/asparagus dish several times since your classes. Then, the other evening, Stacey created a delicious pasta dish with "what we had in the fridge and freezer" pairing ingredients the way you often talk about in class. One of the many things we enjoy the most about your classes is we are learning to think about cooking differently, and more creatively. And when we have ingredients we need ideas for, your blog is an awesome place to look. Thanks so much! (Totally worth sharing our eggs!! ha ha)

Paige said...

Paulette, You have no idea how much it means to me...how good it makes me feel...to hear this. To help people really cook in their own kitchens is why I teach. Thank you so much for taking the time to tell me! I'm always glad when I see your names on the class roster...and it is always a pleasure to see you and Stacey in class (not just because you often come bearing eggs :) ).

Isabella said...

Yeah, I also love table. You know that food is not simply stuff that people eat when their hungry. Food is awesome, delicious, inventive, colorful, inspiring, and so much more. A mutual love of food can bring different people together and can make the saddest person feel a little better without even meaning to. I love food and think you should too.

Aculinarymind - Birthday Party Chef Long Island

Unknown said...

I thoroughly enjoyed your class last night! Do you ever post videos of you making dishes?

Paige said...

I'm so glad you enjoyed the class...thank you for letting me know. That's one of my favorite classes. I have never posted a video. One of my nephews (who is much more tech savvy than I am!) has told me that I should. Occasionally it occurs to me that a particular technique would benefit from a video (making pie crust...or the braided bread from last night)...so maybe someday I'll do it!

Laura said...

My family gives a HUGE thumbs up to the pina colada cupcakes! The first batch went away immediately and since there was enough leftover coconut milk and pineapple for a second batch, I made another, only in the regular size liners (total of 18) with no frosting for some awesome, moist breakfast muffins. My husband calls this a "keeper" recipe. I look forward to resuming your classes at the Merc when things re-open. Thank you for continuing to post. Laura M

Paige said...

Hi Laura, I'm so happy to hear that you enjoyed those cupcakes (and to know that they make nice muffins!--thanks for that detail.). I believe the plan for the moment is to have in person classes resume at The Merc in January of 2021. I hope this will happen. In the mean time I am teaching online. You can find a schedule at www.olivetreekc.com...or check in on my For Love of the Table Facebook or Instagram pages where I post whenever there is going to be a class. Thank you for taking a minute to let me know you enjoyed the muffins...the blog...and my classes!