Gisele Perez

I was born in New Orleans, LA, a fact of which I am extremely proud. My family moved to Los Angeles when I was a child, joining the mass migration from Louisiana in the 1950's, but made regular visits back to New Orleans throughout my childhood. I continue the pilgrimages as often I can. Fall of 1969, that turbulent time-left L.A. (I thought for good) and headed to the Bay Area where I attended Mills College in Oakland, CA. Couldn't wait to get to Berkeley. Surprise for me-there were National Guard troops with bayonets on every corner, and the streets were filled with dog poop and panhandlers. Back at Mills, we had sit down dinners served by waitresses every night in our fancy dining room (had to wear dresses for Sunday dinners). I managed to graduate with a B.A. in Design for Theater and Dance, lived in Berkeley for a couple of years after that, and then moved to the "Big Apple" (New York City-here I come! ), where I pursued my passion for modern dance and theater, well- that and continuing to eat and learn about great food. Spent almost 18 years there. Everyone should live in New York for a while when they are young, but it can start wearing thin when you begin reaching your middle years. I returned to the San Francisco Bay Area (yippee!) to attend the California Culinary Academy where I specialized in Baking and Pastry Arts, and graduated with honors. Lived in Berkeley-right next door to where I lived all those years earlier. 1997-back in L.A.-(geez! who would have thunk) where I opened Small Pleasures Catering, after over 20 years of working in many aspects of food preparation and service in New York City, Los Angeles and the San Francisco Bay Area (you know-the refuge of starving artists). After over 17 years of that, I retired, and moved back to New Orleans. Now that's something I really never would have predicted. I began writing "life stories" 10 years back, and began my first blog after the devastation brought on by Hurricane Katrina in 2005. I continue to blog about at both www.painperdublog.com, and am in the process of writing a memoir with recipes on my LA to LA experience. Stay tuned.