a kitchen education began: Martha, Julia, Rabbi Gil. Subscriptions to Bon Appetit, Saveur, and Gourmet. Plus a weakness for national brand recipe chapbooks: Betty Crocker Appetizers,Pillsbury Casseroles & Slow Cooker.

Ok now it’s post Y2K and the writer-cook is treated to an abundance of flavor and style. Alice’s Tea Party spread across multi-leveled platforms. And I was into it all. I had a somewhere-out-there cooking blog, a monthly insert recipe column, but the pinnacle of this time was becoming a publishing Cookbook author. Get Cooking

Then came Roxy Chocsmith, my Willy Wonka chocolate handmaden alter ego who concocted a seasonal offering of dessert-themed truffles. What I learned: Chocolate is temperamental and demanding. Free and chocolate are the best words in the English language, especially when put together.

But everything faded once I got the COOK/BOOK thing. I was absorbed by my cook-book-in-a-novel/novel-in-a-cook-book project a melange of words and flavors inspired by life and times.

Now I am here. English teacher. Cook. Flavor enthusiast, word lover