Today we’d like to introduce you to JeriLynne Clifford.
Hi JeriLynne, thanks for sharing your story with us. To start, you could tell our readers some of your backstory.
As the Hill Country Bon Vivant, I have loved food, entertainment, and the life of a gourmand for as long as I can remember. I catered my first wedding at sixteen for a friend of my mom. I continued to cater throughout my life, from part-time when my children were small to full-time once they were all in school.
I have been a concierge for family and friends for over 20 years. I started planning family vacations and events when I realized my love for adventure in food, hospitality, and traveling. There is no detail too small that I don’t cover in my planning. My friends affectionately call me Julie from The Love Boat, their cruise director.
My husband, Scot, and I were drawn to the Hill Country in 2017 when we visited for the first time. We immediately fell in love. Scot works at a local winery in his “bonus” career and enjoys all of the research I need to do for Hill Country Bon Vivant. Not long after discovering the wine country in the Hill Country, we planned to make our “pre-retirement” move to Fredericksburg.
I love to share my passion for hospitality and cooking. Nothing is better than sitting around the table with friends or strangers, waiting to become friends, and sharing a bite to eat. Connection and community happen around that table, and I aim to help you create opportunities to do so. I love teaching folks how to cook and become more comfortable in their kitchen in-person and virtually. I offer a monthly “party blueprint” called Every Day Fête that gives a hostess all the hospitality tools she needs to throw a party. I am a tastemaker and a hospitality expert. I share my passion for cooking, travel, and hospitality via my website, Pinterest, YouTube, and Instagram.
Can you talk to us about the challenges and lessons you’ve learned? Looking back, has it been easy or smooth in retrospect?
My mantra is to live with grace, grit, and gratitude. I look around and find moments every day to show grace to myself and others, use the grit of life experiences to battle through a tough time and be grateful for all the blessings in my life.
I am the proud mother of 4 adult children. I divorced their father when the younger two were in high school. We worked hard to keep holidays as normal as possible because that was important to us. Raising 4 kids isn’t easy, but I am proud to say they all love food and connection as I do. I am a two-time cancer survivor and used my love for cooking to help me heal both physically and emotionally. I had to close my catering business due to my health in 2017, and it was so hard to close that chapter of my life. It was a part of who I was and my creative outlet. I felt a bit lost after it ended. I continued to throw parties and create opportunities for hospitality.
When I lost my job in early 2022, I saw it as an opportunity to create my business. Helping others feel comfortable in their kitchen while opening their door to others felt like a way to continue—my love for cooking was different. I love teaching others both cooking classes in people’s homes or through the OKAY, Perfect virtual cooking school. Mission accomplished if one person feels a little more comfortable in the kitchen after taking my class.
Appreciate you sharing that. What else should we know about what you do?
A ‘bon vivant’ is – a friendly person who has cultivated and refined tastes, especially concerning food & drink. I was born with a love for cooking and entertaining in my soul. I catered for my first party, a small wedding, when she was 16. I continued to have a catering business for over 30 years and continued my love for cooking for my husband, Scot, and my four grown children. I was on the TV show “The Chew,” where I won the Julia Child cooking contest making Beef Bourguignon and Chef Michael Symon. Sharing my home with family and friends is the best way to show love, and celebrating every day is the only way to live. Through years of travel to, and now, residency in the Texas Hill Country, I have cultivated meaningful relationships and various diverse experiences I enjoy sharing with others. To help others achieve their hospitality goals, I created a monthly subscription service, Every Day Fête. Every month they receive a curated theme party blueprint. It includes the menu, printable recipes, a grocery list, a timeline, styling ideas, tips, and a Spotify playlist for the fête. It is only $9 a month and has been well received. I also work with Hill Country hospitality businesses like wineries to style photo sessions for their products.
What matters most to you? Why?
Connection. There is a basic human need to feel connected with others. Doing so around a meal is the best way to deepen those connections and relationships. Cooking for others is a great way to show love and gratitude. I adore spending time with family and friends, creating memories. When I had cancer for the first time in 2002, my children were young and in school. I was nervous that they wouldn’t remember me if I passed away. I decided to teach them how to cook some of our primary family recipes so they would have a piece of me. I am so grateful that this is not the case, but it did foster in them that love for food and connection.
Pricing:
- $9.00 a month for the subscription to Every Day Fête
- $125 per person for in-person private cooking classes
Contact Info:
- Website: www.hillcountrybonvivant.com
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/the_hill_country_bon_vivant/?hl=en
- Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/@Hillcountrybonvivant/featured
Image Credits
William Chris Photos: Dave Capote, Brand Photos: Dennah Elliott
