Hi, I’m Karen. I am an artist and cook! With two kitchens and two painting studios, I split my time between Portland Oregon and Northern Provence. Visit my art page, karensilve.com

Cooking good food and sharing with friends is a passion

It brings me great joy to cook for you and share my dinner menus and recipes! Hosting a dinner is like creating an interactive piece of art: contemplating the combination of flavors, creating a welcoming environment, setting an inviting table to sit around, and plating the food beautifully creates an environment which makes the evening an event. My food and menus are influenced by my environments in my two kitchens, one in Portland Oregon, and in Northern Provence.

My parents and grandparents are a major influence in my life as a cook. Before my parents retired, they were organic farmers and my mother had an organic bread business. They believe in local and organic foods. In recent years they educated farmers on how to switch conventional farms into organic ones. Community meant a lot to them, and they started co-ops in two communities for the local people to have access to organic foods. In addition to that, they entertained all of the time. Growing up, we were the party house. They are very welcoming people, and hard workers. And now, they can host you in Provence, click here.

My grandfather was a French chef. When I was growing up, he always put that extra time and effort into making the food beautiful and tasty, even when I was a young child and my taste buds were not mature enough to appreciate it. He created lengthy menus and even made glass sculptures for the center piece of some of his big table settings.

I hope you enjoy my blog, and if you haven’t already done so, please sign up! And feel free to contact me. Thank you for reading.