About Carefree Gourmet
Carefree Gourmet was the brainchild of Andrea Olguin. After spending time catering, attending chef school, avidly reading food magazines and trying new recipes out on her family and friends, as well as providing advice to friends and family on party planning, she identified the need to create a way to make entertaining more approachable and affordable. Too many of the current publications focused on complicated recipes, hard to find ingredients and techniques that required training and practice. People she spoke to were intimidated by the recipes, didn’t have the time to learn, or a clue as to how to get started. Their only other option was to hire a caterer, which didn’t’ fit into everyone’s budget. So many friends chose not to entertain at all.
Andrea shared her idea with Pam Kietzman a photographer and fellow food enthusiast. Together they built upon the concept and created the first book, Carefree Gourmet Buffets – Dazzling Desserts, Bountiful Brunch, Tea Anytime, Brazilian Bar-B-Que, Casual Cajun and Classy Cocktail for up to 20 Guests.
Carefree Gourmet is meant to be just that, carefree entertaining, while still providing a quality experience for your guests. Fresh foods, nice presentation, simple recipes, menu items you can make ahead and fun party ideas we hope will inspire you to have a few friends over. Start small if you like and build your confidence over time, try the recipes a few times, mix and match the menu items and create new party combinations. Use these recipes to take great tasting food to your next potluck, people will think you fussed over your contribution, but you will know it was done in a snap.
About The Creators
Mrs. Olguin holds a Bachelors degree in Graphic Design and a Master’s degree in Business Administration. She studied food preparation through UCLA’s extension program and catered for a small catering company and Bristol Farms. She continues to host parties for her own family and friends while juggling a career, volunteer commitments, family, friends and pets. She began the concept for this book in 1996 after friends and family regularly tapped into her catering experience and requested easy and fun entertaining ideas. Mrs. Olguin resides in Southern California with her husband Rod and Siberian huskies Neeko and Sedona. She can be reached at
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Ms. Kietzman’s passions lie in cooking, photography and travel. As a child, her family lived in several South American countries. She was born in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. She is an award winning amateur photographer and the focus of her photography is documentary style & nature.& Her photographs have been admired by many. As a result of this book venture, food photography has been added to her résumé. She learned the art of entertaining from her mother and her family’s involvement in hosting and entertaining both informal family gatherings as well as international dignitaries. She can be reached a .