My life has always revolved around food!  My earliest childhood memories are of the kitchen in our house. My mother started my sister, brothers and I cooking as soon as we could stand up at the table. We rolled out pie dough along with her. I went to college in Dublin, Ireland and trained as a Home Economics teacher. I taught high school before deciding to go to cooking school by night to further my culinary training.  Lured by the growing reputation of the California food scene, I took leave of absence from my teaching job in 1990 and came to Berkeley. I thought I would spend a year peeling potatoes in some kitchen and then return to Ireland. I landed the job of chef Lalime’s restaurant in Berkeley. I loved it. What was supposed to be a year turned into ten…

By 2000 I was ready for a change and to spend more time closer to home. I was invited to cook for a month at Chateau Routas in Provence. I fell in love with the markets and the beauty of Provence and spent four summers there as the Culinary Director at the chateau. I cooked for guests who stayed at the chateau and taught some cooking classes. In the wintertime, I came back to California and worked at local cooking schools, was involved in the culinary education program at Copia in the Napa Valley and worked as a private chef.

I became the Chef Instructor of the Professional Culinary program at Tante Marie’s Cooking School in 2004 and worked there until 2014.

Nowadays you will find me teaching classes with The Field Kitchen in Berkeley, The Silverado Cooking School in Napa and The Civic Kitchen In San Francisco.

Please come and join me for a class.

Frances