About

Welcome to Ketmala’s Kitchen!

As your Personal Chef and Culinary Instructor, I will guide you through each cooking step within a small friendly group session or private lesson.  Are you ready to get the hands-on experience, acquire additional skills, learn a new cuisine, become a more confident and capable chef in your own kitchen?

Whether you are interested in learning the skills of Fresh Spring Rolls, Raw Living Food, Vegetarian Food, Vegan Cuisine, Around the World Plant-based Cuisine, Simple Everyday Cooking, Juicing, Smoothies, Superfoods & Sprouts, Gentle Cleanse Class, etc.  I promise you that it will be simple, seasonal, local, healthy, delicious and lots of fun.

What are you waiting for?  Join me in the kitchen, roll-up your sleeves and let’s cook together soon!

About Ketmala Phoumalavong:

I was born in Vientiane, Laos and at the age of 7 year old my family emigrated to France where I grew up in the countryside discovering a brand new world with a different language, culture, lifestyle, snow for the first time, and of course delicious French food at its best!  I embraced it all with open arms enjoying my daily walks to “la boulangerie” (bakery) to get the freshly baked “pain de campagne” (country loaf) or “la tarte chocolat poire” (chocolate pear tart) depending on the occasion.  Saturday morning was “le jour du marché” or “Market Day” and I used to follow my mother through the colorful aisles of the local Farmers’ Market in search of the vibrant picked seasonal vegetables, beautiful ripe fruits, colorful selection of olives and spices to make our traditional “ratatouille”, a summer seasoned stew made with eggplant, tomatoes, green bell peppers, zucchini, yellow squash, and herbs.

Cooking has always been a BIG part of my life growing up, I still remember fondly how my siblings and I used to gather in the kitchen to help either Maman when she was making her little Chinese dumplings or rice noodle dishes or Papa when he was cooking his Laotian sticky rice to go with his spicy Lao Aubergine dip.  It seemed to me that there was always something going on in the kitchen, the heart of our home, and to this day we continue to cook together as a family whenever we reunite in my hometown of Lyon, France.  Now both of my children get to discover “ma douce” (my sweet) France when we travel there during our summer vacation to discover new parts of it and of course to indulge in some delicious French food.

After working 7 years in the American corporate world traveling around the globe, I needed a change and asked myself “What will bring me most joy while being of service to others?”  Cooking of course, so I went back to school to become a Chef.  I am now a Personal Chef and Culinary Instructor living in West Chester, Pennsylvania with my husband, son (6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 years old), daughter (3 1/2  5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 years old though she thinks she is 20) and Weimaraner dog (9 10 11 12 years old our beloved four-legged friend Indie left for Dog’s Heaven on December 22nd 2016, RIP sweetie), but we rescued a puppy dog from All4Paws back in August 2017 and our sweet Angel is 5 years old now and we are all in love with her.  We live a happy busy life with lots of activities throughout the week, however we make sure to sit down for our home cooked meal at the end of the day, it’s our special time to reconnect, share and talk over family, school and other matters.

I feel fortunate to do what I enjoy the most by preparing, cooking, teaching, sharing my passion for food with others and hoping that somehow they will be inspired to sprinkle their own kitchen with sunshine too.  A healthy lifestyle begins with homemade meals prepared with local and seasonal ingredients freshly picked from farm to table and of course lots of love!

When I am not in the kitchen, I love doing yoga, meditation, walking Angel, hiking, in-line skating and recently started Pure Barre and I am hooked! I also enjoy doing craft with my children, foraging in the woods, picking seasonal fruits and vegetables at the local farm, going for a promenade in the woods or on a picnic at the park with my family who inspires me to live in the moment with joy, compassion, kindness, love, authenticity and gratitude, hanging out with my friends for our monthly Ladies Night, which makes me happy and of course taking lots of photos with my CANON EOS 60D or iPhone to capture each special memory to treasure and share with everyone.

Please feel free to send me an email to contact@ketmalaskitchen.com for additional questions, to schedule your next cooking class in a private group session, to book a freelance work and/or simply to share your culinary anecdote; I would love to hear from you.  You may also like, share and follow my cooking adventure on facebook or Instagram. 

Ketmala’s Kitchen was voted Best Cooking Classes of the Main Line & Western Suburbs 2015, I am truly honored and grateful for this huge recognition by the critics and readers of MainLine Today Magazine you could find the July 2015 issue in your library archive now.

Happy healthy cooking always!

XOXO,

Chef Ketmala

 MAIN LINE TODAY BEST OFF 2015

Ketmala’s Kitchen in the News:  

Upcoming Cooking Classes Unfolding Through Fall at Ketmala’s Kitchen, by Angela Corrado from WestChesterDish, October 15, 2012.
Chef Al Paris of Heirloom and Ketmala’s Kitchen on WCHE’s Eat, Drink & Meet Mary, by Angela Corrado from WestChesterDish, November 16, 2012.
Baking & Kitchen Tips from Ketmala’s Kitchen by Nina Malone from WestChesterDish, January 8, 2013.
Baking Novice Tackles Fancy French Macarons with help from Ketmala’s Kitchen by Angela Corrado from WestChesterDish, March 12, 2013
Ketmala’s Kitchen Hosts Gentle Cleanse to Turbocharge your New Healthy Body by Rona Dewey from WestChesterDish, January 16, 2014
West Chester Dish

Featured on the Main Course E-Newsletter of the Main Line Today on January 15, 2013

Ketmala’s Kitchen & Chefanti Team Up for Kid’s Cooking Class by Michele Kornegay from WestChesterDish, January 13, 2014

Around the World with Dumplings in the Daily Local News by Emily Ryan (Digital First Media) April 8, 2015

Daily Local News

Ketmala’s Kitchen Voted Best of Cooking Classes of the Main Line & Western Suburbs, in the MainLine Today Magazine July 1, 2015.

Best of the Main Line 2015

Main Line Today Best of @ketmalaskitchen.com 2015

All photographed and contents © Ketmala’s Kitchen 2012-15 and cannot be used without permission.

One thought on “About

  1. Pingback: Teach Your Kids Valuable Culinary Skills with Classes at Chefanti (May 3) - The Town Dish

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