photo credit @Raul Alejandro Photography
Welcome to Chez Us, a food blog that we cooked up in 2007 to document what we were cooking in a tiny 20 sq. ft kitchen in San Francisco. We had a tiny stove, a tiny cupboard and a tiny counter; urban cooking at it’s best! Chez Us was meant to be an inspiration that anyone could learn to cook, using minimal tools and space, and that the real star was the ingredients.
Since those early days, we have moved into a grown-up kitchen with a big stove, lots of counter space and even a pantry. Chez Us has evolved, into a personal journey about our love affair with life and good home-cooked meals. We think Julia Child said it best, “Learn how to cook, try new recipes, learn from your mistakes, be fearless and, above all, have fun”. This is what we try to do, in and out of the kitchen.
We met 14 years ago; Lenny was a starving bachelor who longed for his mother’s home-cooked Portuguese meals. They say the way to a man’s heart is through his stomach. Denise likes to think she got to his heart through many means, cooking just happened to be one of them. Unfortunately, he loves her cooking so much that he thinks they only need to eat at Chez Us.
We share many passions, one of them is that food should be simple, wholesome and real. Nothing fancy, just comfortable food that makes you want to pull up a chair and linger at the table. We tend to cook seasonally using what is fresh and available to us. Don’t get us wrong, we still have many guilty pleasures such as French cheese, Portuguese fried cod, and luscious wines from other countries. Entertaining our friends is a favorite past-time as there isn’t anything more special then breaking bread together.
If you can’t find us in the kitchen, look out the back door. We may be in the great outdoors, either camping (good food will be included), biking or climbing some of the highest peaks. Our passions are traveling to far-away lands, submerging ourselves in the culture and of course eating! We love to spend time behind a video and camera making memories last forever.
We would love to hear from you. Email us directly at:
Denise Woodward – denise { at } chezus.com
Lenny Ferreira – lenny { at } chezus.com
great site glad to have found you.
I just love you guys…that’s all 🙂
I cannot find the recipe for your jeweled wild rice salad posted last year during November. Can you repost it or send me a copy? Thank you! I love your blog and other recipes. 🙂
Hello Anne, that recipe was actually part of a ebook that we published last year. I’d be happy to send it to you – just need your email address.
Hi. May I please get a copy of your Jeweled Wild Rice Salad. Looks beautiful. I am enticed by many of your recipes! Thank you!!
Hi Denise, I wish I would have watched your food photography training videos at the beginning of my training at Bauman college. I am going to put those tips to good use going forward as I complete the Holistic Nutrition Consultant program. Thank you for presenting these and sharing your knowledge of food photography with students like myself.
I really enjoy photographing food to use in my handouts and reports.