About Us
To us, food is art & your taste is a key ingredient. We strive to create savory bites & sweet endings that delight your guests long after the party ends.
My Journey
There are always people asking me my culinary story…am I classically trained? (I am not). Do I have a family history of chefs? (My grandmothers and my youngest aunt are whizzes in the kitchen and my dad introduced us to stuff like homemade dough and Eastern European specialties at a young age, but other than that…not formally trained!). Short of saying it was God thing, I’ve really got nothing.
My kitchen skills were incredibly limited and my husband would tell you I could make the BEST cup of hot tea you’d ever had in your life. (Gives you great confidence to come for dinner doesn’t it?) An unexplained medical condition suddenly had me at home – unable to drive – and I was sooooooo bored!! This was back when TV’s only had 13 channels, I wasn’t a soap watcher, we didn’t have kids or pets and you can only seriously vacuum so many times and did I say I was STUCK at HOME?? (Could it have been advance training for quarantine?!?!).
One day I discovered cooking shows on PBS. The Galloping Gourmet – Graham Kerr, The Frugal Gourmet – Jeff Smith, the queen of kitchen royalty, Julia Child and more. I literally just watched for months…then one day when they were making homepage spinach pasta with Alfredo, I said to myself, I can do THAT! I had no suitable equipment. They made the dough in a food processor I was trying to use a blender. They had cool racks for drying the pasta and I was pulling the racks out of our oven and propping them between chairs <insert eye roll>.
My First Meal
Crazily…my first meal of garlic-rubbed filet and spinach fettuccini Alfredo was AMAZING. And even though my dear hubs asked “WHO made this?” I’ve continued to feed him, and we’re still happily married. Seriously, he’s been a welcoming and cheerful guinea pig to all of my creations!
Fast-forwarding to today, I’ve been ridiculously blessed with crossing paths with so many culinary-genius mentors. People who’ve taught me to work smarter not harder, who’ve taught me tricks of the trade and who’ve trusted me to stretch my talents with textures, flavors, and technique. God has stayed firmly planted on this journey.
Testimonials
I just wanted to you know how much I appreciate your special you and your efforts to make sour special day special. You and your staff could not have done more to make it a day to remember. Thanks to you, everyone had a great time (especially me) and your attentiveness to details made it happen.
We wanted a homestyle reception and we got exactly what we wanted! I am still dreaming about that chicken. It’s real simple if anyone asks I’m saying my caterer is MONICA KELSO!
WOW! Every course was a delicious work of art. Our auction winners were thrilled! Thank you for supporting Cumberland Valley School of Music.
Let's Create Memories
© 2023 - Monica Kelso Catering