Thanks to an extremely generous donation by local caterer Dorene Serbenski to the Friends of the Paw Paw District Library, the May 14-16, 2026 book sale at the Library will feature a wonderful selection of over five hundred cookbooks from her professional collection. In addition, this semi-annual event will include the usual large array of gently used books, CDs and DVDs of all genres. All items are available for one dollar or less, and all proceeds from this sale will be used to support the Library.
Many will remember Ms. Serbenski as the proprietor of (first) Desserts Unlimited and (later) Premier Catering of Paw Paw. Building upon the fond memories and valuable lessons learned as a child in her grandmother’s kitchen, she began her culinary career in the 1970’s as a night shift pots and pans dishwasher for the Upjohn Company. As her talents and work ethic became evident, she was promoted within the Upjohn food service operation until the mid-1980’s (when she left the company) at which point she was their head baker. Shortly thereafter she began working from home, developing her Desserts Unlimited business while at the same time raising her family and caring for aging parents. As demand for her creations grew (largely based upon recommendations by past customers) and with the help of family members, she expanded her repertoire and relocated her operation.
The additonal space and increased visibility enabled her to offer a much broader array of menus and services. At its peak, Premier Catering employed up to fifty people, (including many local teenagers and retirees) and operated a fleet of several vehicles to provision multiple (often concurrent) catering jobs each summer weekend. Ms. Serbenski and her team cooked for both private and local corporate and university clients, routinely serving dozens or hundreds at weddings and family reunions and occasionally thousands of people at multi-shift or multi-day events.
Even when she wasn’t at work, Ms. Serbenski thought about cooking. As she traveled throughout the United States and Europe, she continued to expand her cookbook collection. She would always read each new acquisition cover to cover, and prided herself in being able to quickly locate whichever recipe she needed amongst her many volumes. Her collection proved to be an invaluable resource that enabled her to offer her customers a regionally- and ethnically-diverse array of menu choices.
After decades of hard work and success, Ms. Serbenski made the bittersweet decision to close her business in 2020. Reflecting on her career she takes great pride and pleasure in memories of the challenges she faced and all of the people she met through her work. Some highlights include not only the fact that a wedding cake she created (see photo above) appeared in The Tiffany Wedding by John Loring, (Design Director Emeritus of Tiffany & Co.), but also that she provided the food for events attended by three different U.S. presidents. After repeated requests, she also somehow found the time to publish her own cookbook, It’s Time to Eat! (also pictured above). Still it’s hard to imagine a better distillation of Ms. Serbenski’s culinary gifts than the following quote from one of her customers: “You gave me the best day of my life.”
