About Me...

Favorite foods: Potatoes, polenta, pastas, any type of bread and cheese, chopped salads, Starbucks mochas, cookies.

Favorite Cookbooks: Bistro Cooking by Patricia Wells; Anything from the Barefoot Contessa series by Ina Garten; The Thrill of the Grill by Chris Schleisinger and John Willoughby; The Best Recipe by Cook’s Illustrated; Wolfgang Puck’s Pizza, Pastas and More.

Favorite Links: Bitten; Orangette; Chocolate and Zucchini; The Food Section; David Lebovitz; Picnik; Mommy Track'd; Cool Mom Picks; The Juggle;

Favorite Kids: Julia and Liza, my Easy Bakers.

Hobbies: Cooking, entertaining, traveling, reading, photography.

Three people I'd invite to dinner: My grandmother, who shared with me a love of cooking; Julia Child; and Paula Deen. What a trio they’d make!

Guilty food pleasure: French fries, doughnuts.

Little-known fact: I wrote a newspaper article about a double murder/suicide for the local community newspaper while in college. I then covered other crime scenes in town, but I felt much safer with food, so I took off the Perry Mason hat.

Favorite Writers: Anna Quindlen; Ayelet Waldman; Ann Hood; Pat Conroy; Jodi Picoult; Anne Rivers Siddons.

Fondest food memory: I spent the summer of my 15th year traveling through Europe with my brother and friends of my parents. They didn’t have kids and wanted to offer us a trip of a lifetime. They did just that, but they got more than they bargained for with a homesick, nose-in-her-book, cheeky teen who soon tired of churches, castles and ruins. What I didn’t tire of was the incredible cuisines we sampled in Germany, France, Austria, Switzerland and Ireland.
         We started in Austria, where we stayed with family friends and were introduced to local favorites of Weiner Schnitzel, beef tartare, topfenstrudel and chicken cordon bleu. Afternoons were spent in conditories eating ice cream coupes, layered cakes and flaky pastries. We then traveled across Europe in an old converted Mercedes bakery truck, dining in country inns and bistros by day and camping out at night. During this time, we sampled warm crepes from street carts in Paris and were introduced to all types of wurst, hearty stews and steaks, gratins and the crispiest pommes frites.
         In Ireland, two distinct food memories come to mind. While staying at a very rustic, thatched-roof home in the Irish countryside, I remember plucking a just-baked scone from a primitive wood-burning hearth, slathering it with clotted cream and savoring it quiety with a cup of tea -- all the while thinking to myself that this is what a real scone should taste like. Then, after a late night in Dublin's pubs with a very fun group of 20-somethingish family friends, we were treated to a rowdy 2 a.m. homemade breakfast of bangers, rashers, sunny-side eggs and toast with jam. Heady stuff for a 15-year-old!
         It's nearly 30 years later. I can still vividly taste, see and smell those newly discovered foods from so long ago.