About

hello! i’m Jen

mother, Adventurer, & home cook

Taking the love of my home in the Pacific Northwest and fusing it together with my love of France and its many regions, I will explore cooking, gardening, and many points of interest, both locally and abroad.

What makes French food and cooking quintessentially “French”? Aside from the obvious component of geography, the words fresh, local, and seasonal come to mind. 

Here in the Pacific Northwest, surrounded by the natural beauty of mountains, salty seas, islands, rolling hills, and farms, we are blessed with volumes of local resources for incredibly fresh ingredients right at our fingertips. The many varied regions of the Northwestern corner of our country produce a bounty of fresh ingredients that elevate the ordinary to the extraordinary. 

France holds a special place in my heart, as it is where, while I was a flight attendant, I had my first date with my husband almost 30 years ago. Since then, having been back on multiple trips, I have come to appreciate the people, culture, and regions of the country. Upon returning from my last trip to France in September 2023, it occurred to me that the similarities of the regions of the Pacific Northwest and the regions of France are astonishingly parallel to one another. The Cascades/Alps, the San Juan Islands and Coastal Areas/Normandy & Brittany, the rolling wheat fields, orchards and farms of the eastern slopes of the Cascades/the Centre & Loire Valley, the apple orchards of central Washington/Normandy & Brittany, and of coarse, the various wine regions of each respective area.