Kathleen Albiani

Before April, I thought that a Cuisinart was the pinnacle of kitchen technology. Until, that is, I was introduced to the world of culinary blogging. Immediately, I was intrigued. So many people share my passion for good food and its creation! Food has provided me a vocation and an avocation, and I’ve been working in culinary related jobs for almost 20 years now. What I find most interesting about food is that there is so much to know. The more I learn, the more there is to know. I’m fueled by a passion for learning, which is what brings me here, to this space. My hope is to share what I’ve learned from this amazing world of all things culinary, and to learn what readers can share with me.

My name is Kathleen, Kat for short, and I chose the name Kat on Thyme to emphasize the heart of my culinary philosophy. Fresh herbs, and ingredients that are in time with the season, the mood, and the place, are central to what I believe about cooking. And time, it does take time to eat well, yet time cooking and dining is time well spent.

“The Finicky One” was how my friend Stacy’s grandmother kept me straight from all of the other skinny kids on the block. Perhaps the discriminating palate began early, but more likely, I was just a typical, picky little kid. Family and friends from the California neighborhood in which I grew up, find it amusing that I make my living as a chef. As a kid, I lived on dry toast, plain baked potatoes, black olives (one on each finger), and air. I can’t remember when exactly the transformation from finicky to fanatic began, but now, I’ll taste just about anything, if I can get it past my nose and into my mouth.
It must have been traveling that opened my eyes (and my mouth!) to the wonders of food. About all I remember from my first trip to Europe, when I was five, were the gelato vendors in Italy, the rabbit my cousins in Viareggio prepared, and the strawberries we picked there for dessert. Travel became a hobby, and later a vocation, as I worked my way through the Caribbean, the North Atlantic, and the Pacific coast, from Alaska to Panama. Being a chef on a boat isn’t the easiest way to earn a living, but it is certainly an interesting one. Admittedly, I’ve seen a lot of beautiful places through the porthole of a galley, but I’ve also been lucky enough to feel sand between my toes and the straw of a piña colada between my lips.
But alas, before I was a swarthy sailor, I was her complete antithesis- a Home Economics teacher in small town Oregon. I learned much in that 6 years, mostly from my students. They made amazing creations as well as amazing messes, and they taught me how flexible a document a recipe really is.

And now, I live in Seattle and divide my time between working as a personal chef, teaching cooking classes, working for the health department, and doing the occasional catering job or sailing gig. And eating. I do eat every once in a while.