Last Morning at Nora's Table: A Chef's Memoir with Recipes

by Kathy Watson

Anthony Bourdain’s Kitchen Confidential meets Ina Garten’s Be Ready When the Luck Happens in this deliciously reflective memoir of one woman as she recounts her journey of becoming an accomplished chef—the hard way.

The kitchen saved Kathy Watson’s life.

In the midst of a recession, Kathy is running two restaurants with the passion of a gastronome who grew up on freshly farmed food—and the limitations of a chef who has little formal culinary education. That lack of training, a perceived shortcoming, has her bowing to the misogynistic egos of destructive, hot-headed chefs in her own kitchens. All the while, her fear and insecurity trigger childhood memories of physical and emotional abuse at the hands of her mother—a relationship that she can’t seem to reckon with.

Then, one day, one of Kathy’s chefs walks out just before dinner service, forcing her to face off with one of her long-held sautéing on the hot side. The experience breaks the cycle wide open—and thus begins Kathy’s journey to throw off years of abuse to become a woman she can love.

Including more than thirty recipes and a wealth of kitchen drama, Last Morning at Nora’s Table will satisfy your appetite for delicious food and back-of-the-house gossip. Swing a sauté pan up to the stove and dive in.

328 pages, Paperback

Expected publication February 9, 2027

About the author

Kathy Watson is a chef and author. But she wasn't always. Before opening her two restaurants and writing her first books, she spent twenty years as a journalist and public relations executive. Orphans of the Living is her debut novel.

In her previous life, she was press secretary to the Oregon State Senate Democrats, and director of communications for two state agencies. She served a brief (but disastrous) stint as press secretary to the mayor of Portland, Bud Clark. She was also editor-in-chief of Oregon Business magazine for six years. In 1998, she started a media relations firm with her husband and fellow writer, Stu Watson.

In 2004, she said goodbye to all that and became the chef and owner of Viento in Bingen, Washington, and the acclaimed Nora's Table in Hood River, Oregon.

In addition to Orphans of the Living, she has written a memoir, Last Morning at Nora's Table, slated to be published by She writes press on Feb. 9, 2027, and is at work on a second novel, Heart of the Monster.

Her community activities include serving as a Court Appointed Special Advocate (CASA) for children.

Kathy attended the University of Oregon School of Journalism, but left one term shy of graduation to take her first newspaper job. Her son Max is a teacher in New Zealand, and her daughter Annie owns a breakfast food truck.

She lives in Hood River, OR and runs and hikes the trails of the Columbia River Gorge with her dog Satchel, and husband Stu.