Catherine The Great
Paul Jones and Catherine Jones
Recent Iloilo visitor and award-winning cookbook author and food writer, Catherine C. Jones gave an exquisite Italian-themed dinner at her well-appointed South Forbes Park residence for her close friends as well as some members of the U.S. diplomatic circle a few weeks ago. I flew all the way to Manila with society maven Beverly "Pangging" Rosales to grace that splendid occasion.
Catherine is a graduate of La Varenne Culinary School in France and has worked with the late Jean-Louis Palladin, a renowned chef. Her first book, A Year of Russian Feasts, won Foreword Magazine's Book of the Year Travel Essay Award, and was a finalist for the International Association of Culinary Professionals Julia Child Cookbook Award. Her cookbooks Eating for Pregnancy: An Essential Guide to Nutrition with Recipes for the Whole Family and the recent Eating for Lower Cholesterol have received many accolades and have been in the bestsellers lists.
She is the daughter of respected diplomat Brandon H. Grove Jr., the former US Ambassador to Congo (then Zaire); dedicated wife to the most charming Deputy Chief of Mission of the US Embassy in Manila, Mr. Paul Jones; and doting mother to two wonderful children.
Asked why she chose to serve us Italian food, she replied "Because I love Italian food. I don't cook very often but when I do, I'd like to have a theme. I had a yen for risotto and lamb, and the coconut milk panna cotta was inspired by a recent trip to Thailand where I took a cooking class. Normally, I'd serve grappa after an Italian meal like this, but I decided to share my prized Russian vodka with close friends who would appreciate it. My mother is Russian, so the culture is in my blood. Blini and caviar, borshch and plemeny might just be my next feast, though it might be hard to find good caviar."
Catherine's mother is a Cheremeteff, a descendant of the Sheremetev clan of the Romanov dynasty, her grandfather was the great-great-great grandson of the last Czar of Imperial Russia, Nicolas I. No wonder Catherine is such a marvelous hostess and has that remarkable flair for the finer things in life. After all, it's in here genes.