Four days a week, Bailey prepares meals for Los Gatans Margaret and Kapil Nanda and their two daughters. Beyond preparing the daily family menu, she caters the Nandas' luncheons and parties, like the recent "Dinner in Gosford Park" she cooked as a fundraiser for their daughter's school. Guests were served individual beef Wellingtons.

Unlike many chefs who prefer gauging their guests' reactions from afar, Bailey enjoys coming out of the kitchen and mingling.

"I haven't worked for anyone yet I don't like," she smiles, her eyes crinkling with the good humor that is a staple of her personality. And it's unusual she cooks a meal that isn't liked. "Except maybe the 'drunken chicken with coconut rice' I made the Nandas once," she laughs, referring to a recipe she tried that called for roasting the chicken in beer. Beyond that, she's given free rein to cook what she wants within the parameters of her customers' likes, dislikes and allergies.

"I don't really use a cookbook. Every morning I drink my coffee and read," the Santa Cruz native says, explaining how she keeps her cooking ideas fresh and outside the confines of formula cooking. "You should see my house—magazines and books everywhere." She lives in Saratoga, commuting to her daily jobs and to the catering she does throughout the South Bay. Her rates for catering vary according to the kind of food prepared and to the number served, starting at $35 an hour. For private cooking, she charges a daily rate with a minimum of four hours. "I do the shopping. They buy the food," she says.

A graduate of the San Francisco Culinary Academy, Le Cordon Bleu, Bailey has eclectic taste. An example of a Thai dish she has served is yellow curry chicken. She takes a breast of chicken, sears it and removes it from the heat. Then she simmers lemongrass, red bell peppers, peas and baby corn with the yellow curry in coconut milk and chicken stock. The chicken breast is put back in the mix and allowed to simmer for about 20 minutes. "It's a real fast meal," she says.

On this particular day, she was making three meals for a Los Altos family she visits once a week: turkey breast stuffed with homemade bread, apples, sage, celery and onions. Trussed and roasted, it was to be served with garlic mashed potatoes. The second meal was filet mignon with mushrooms wrapped in prosciutto. The third meal was a "pasta bar" of angel hair, macaroni and tortellini pastas with marinara and Alfredo sauces, plus sides of vegetables "primavera" and meatballs. She also prepared a Boston leaf lettuce salad with Stilton (blue) cheese, bacon and pine nuts and an apple-blueberry cobbler.

"I really don't want to wrap and freeze meals," she says. "I want people to open the fridge and see wonderful, colorful food. I guess sometimes I may go overboard, because I've been told, 'Michelle, you really don't have to put pansies on the food,' " she giggles.

One of the nice side effects of her cooking is that "kids really don't mind trying new things, and families tell me they have more quality time together, because they don't have to prepare and clean up," she concludes.

Michelle Bailey can be reached at rovinggourmet@yahoo.com or by calling 408.410.5515 and leaving a message.