Welcome to Set the Table! My name is Rachael and I’m the creator, writer, photographer, cook and dishwasher responsible for the recipes and stories you’ll find here. Over the years, I’ve found that, no matter where I am or who I am with, gathering around the table to share a meal with family and friends makes me feel right at home.

I often think about how food brought my family together when I was growing up. I remember the smell of onions sautéeing on the stove top in my mother’s kitchen, which would inevitably lead to something comforting and delicious. While my mom prepared the meal, our job was to set the table. When everything was in place, we would sit down as a family, laugh together, sometimes cry and comfort each other, and enjoy the lovingly prepared food on our plates that nourished us, body and soul. The closeness we developed around the dinner table is something I carry with me always and now strive to create in my own home.

Here at Set the Table, you'll find recipes for foods that are simple and delicious. Whether you are cooking for your family or having friends over for dinner and drinks, you'll find recipes here to fit any occasion. From cocktails to appetizers, desserts and entrees, the recipes you will find here incorporate my desire for Midwestern comfort food, love of International cuisine, and need for dishes that don't take hours to make.

More About Rachael

I’m a Midwestern girl originally from White Bear Lake, Minnesota. Much of what I learned about food came from my mother who grew up in Tennessee and passed along her Southern food favorites to my sister and me. I also learned a lot about food while working at a gourmet grocer in Minnesota, Kowalski’s Market, waiting tables at restaurants like Ursula’s Wine Bar & Café, and traveling to countries like Italy, France, Argentina, and Thailand. Eventually, my husband and I found a permanent home in Japan, where I started my first food blog, Tokyo Terrace. Tokyo Terrace was a journal of my discoveries, food-related and otherwise, as we experienced life in a foreign place.

Since Tokyo Terrace began, I have been published in cookbooks (Foodista Best of Food Blogs, Peko Peko: A Charity Cookbook for Japan), Japan’s Daily Yomiuri Newspaper and began contributing to Menuism’s blog as their Hosting an Entertaining Expert. My work has also been featured several times on Huffington Post Food. Most recently, I have demonstrated my cooking skills on NBC and FOX affiliates in the Twin Cities.

My husband, son and I left Tokyo in June of 2012 to pursue new job opportunities in Denver, CO. Instead of a terrace in Tokyo, we now have a cozy little house in Colorado where we set the table for friends and family to eat, laugh and enjoy being together.