TEACHER'S BIOS
Julie Logue-Riordan, Owner/Director
Classically trained by some of the world's most accomplished French Masters, Julie has been teaching for more than 20 years and is a Certified Culinary Professional. She apprenticed with former White House pastry chef, Roland Mesnier -- and worked and studied in France at Hotel de France in Auch with André Daguin, Paula Wolfert, Gaston Lenôtre and Ecole Ritz Escoffier. Julie was director and teacher at L'Academie de Cuisine, one of the top ten cooking schools in the United States, where she teamed with Francois Dionot for five years. She also had the opportunity to work with Jean-Louis Palladin and Giuliano Bugialli. Julie is a graduate of L'Academie de Cuisine in Maryland, and has taken numerous classes at the CIA-Greystone — and around the world.
After living and working many years abroad in Asia and Africa, she now makes her home in Napa and started the cooking school COOKING with JULIE. In her free time she volunteers at the Food Bank and C.H.E.F.S. (Conquering Homelessness Through Employment in Food Service) as an instructor.
Member of International Association of Culinary Professionals (IACP), San Francisco Professional Food Society, and Slow Food.
Denise Pardini, Instructor
Chef Denise Pardini was born in San Francisco with family origins in Lucca, Tuscany. Denise grew up cooking with her Nonna, Giulia Bertolani and her father, Enrico Pardini, a renowned teacher & Italian butcher with the distinguished title of “Norcino”. She is grounded in Tuscan cooking technique, and is an accomplished butcher trained personally by her father. Chef Pardini also received formal French training and many years ago was part of the Chez Panisse "revolution" in Berkeley, California.
Today, Denise designs all recipes and the local ingredients that go into what is prepared at the Hotel Castello di Sinio, in Northern Italy’s Piemonte Region. You can find her personally in the kitchen each night and teaching cooking courses most afternoons. The critically acclaimed cuisine at Hotel Castello di Sinio is typical Piemontese and at the same time, uniquely her own, respecting traditions but lightening them for modern sensibilities. Chef Pardini’s first book on the regional cuisine of Le Langhe is scheduled for publication in late 2009.
Annie Baker, Instructor
Annie Baker, is a prime example of a professional woman who decided to pursue her passion and completely change her career direction. After receiving an Accounting degree from Saint Mary's College in South Bend, Indiana, Annie worked in large corporate Finance Departments for the next ten years in Chicago before heading out to the West Coast for the Pastry Arts Program at CIA Greystone. It was there that Annie gained the knowledge, skills and confidence she needed to advance from amateur home baker to professional pastry chef. Then, barely a year after dining as just another tourist at Mustards Grill in the Napa Valley, Annie joined the Mustards kitchen team and was given her own pastry station. She now collaborates with owner/chef Cindy Pawlcyn to create all of the wonderful, well-known desserts enjoyed by so many happy customers year round. Annie Baker is very friendly, open and honest and - having transitioned from Banking to Baking - always eager to share her personal experiences and insights into the nuances of finding your destiny later on in life.
Janet Fletcher, Instructor
Janet Fletcher is a staff food writer and weekly cheese columnist for the San Francisco Chronicle, where her writing has won two James Beard Awards and the IACP Bert Greene Award. She also writes a bimonthly cheese column for Specialty Food, a trade magazine, and frequently conducts guided wine and cheese tastings. Janet has written on wine and food topics for numerous national publications and has authored or co-authored 18 cookbooks, including The Cheese Course, Fresh from the Farmers’ Market,The Niman Ranch Cookbook and the just-published Cheese & Wine.
Niloufer King, Instructor
Anthropologist, food scholar, teacher and cook, Niloufer Ichaporia King studies tropical cuisines, food plants and food as an expression of cultural change. Born in India Niloufer King has shopped and cooked in the Bay Area for over thirty years. Her book "My Bombay Kitchen: Traditional and Modern Parsi Home Cooking" (University of California Press, 2007) chronicles the food of one Parsi family spanning three generations and two continents.
COOKING with JULIE
(707) 227-5036
julie@cookingwithjulie.com