It started as both a bit of a joke and as a necessity.  A lifelong,  capable cook and baker, the first “catering job” I ever had arose out of an age old combination: a  taste for lovely things and special gatherings, and hardly any budget at the time to make it happen!  For my own thirtieth birthday I set out to throw a festive soiree that would include a full dinner for about forty; a challenge I had never taken on before, quite as such.  I composed a menu and a plan of action; spent many days shopping, cooking, preparing… and then made the rookie mistake of forgetting to factor in load-in and set-up times, as well as many, many other details I’ve since added  in my official files.  But, foibles and all, I still got a kick out of doing it, and a hostess’ thrill when I saw the buffet disappearing on the plates of my sated guests… even though the displays were, shall we say, rustic. The party was a success, and I was tickled by the reactions and comments I received afterward.

For a few years I focused mostly on birthday cakes and intimate dinner parties, yet slowly-but-surely, the scale and intricacy of our events grew.  And so did the requests, and the number of waitstaff at restaurants to which I’d brought-in birthday cakes for friends who asked, in breathless tones that made me actually blush, “Where did this come from? What bakery did you order this from?” to which I had to reply, “No, no, I made it,” to their confused astonishment. Little did I know, when I first relocated to L.A., not only was it hilariously uncommon to even admit to liking cake, but to actually bake a cake for a friend was practically unheard of. (Sugar! Gluten! Ooh la la, quelle scandal!) I was by turns flattered, baffled, and tickled with my expanding skill set and recipe development.

By 2021 I found myself throwing parties and catering for others, as well as baking larger scale orders.  Cakes, cupcake and cookie boxes, a wedding cake, muffins, pastries, and the like—and even though I’d been baking for bigger groups since childhood, my professional skills expanded along with my repertoire.  Then, about 2024, I added in sourdough and began making all my own bread, which led to a whole new category for my ersatz enterprise.  And lo and behold, to keep up with demand, I found myself running a micro-bakery and boutique catering company out of my—very quaint, it bears mentioning—West L.A. home kitchen.

My friends, family and customers were asking for something more official, so I needed a name.  As a terminally homesick Tennessean who cherished food memories as veritable heritage and even, sometimes, heirlooms, I knew I wanted my little venture to immediately evoke the kinds of foods and experiences I grew up enjoying: the annual canning of our small orchard’s harvest; blackberry picking through massive brambles and putting up jars of jam; extravagant but unpretentious cakes made for memorable celebrations with care and love; everyday breads and snacks to make the mundane parts of life live up to Warren Zevon’s dying philosophy to “enjoy every sandwich.”

Well, what more quintessentially Southern ingredient could there be than buttermilk, seemingly every great recipe’s secret ingredient?It’s a humble treasure that somehow makes everything better: more flavorful, more authentic, more tender and delicious.  It adds that je ne sais quoi… just like I take such joy in doing, with everything that comes out of my kitchen.