My Hungarian grandmother taught me to cook by showing me her traditional ways when I started grade school. That is when my passion for cooking all started. Since she never wrote anything down or ever measured anything the way you would expect, my schoolgirl eyes widened to take in as much as possible during her visits. On my own I learned to take chances and experiment, but rarely with the perfection she achieved. When I lived and cooked in Bavaria with a German family the year before my college graduation, they were quite surprised to find that any American could actually cook food they would enjoy. While in college during the summer, with the job of teaching printmaking at the Putney School, I also got to supervise an organic farm crew there. Later I became an academic with a keen interest in sustainability. I love experimenting with new ingredients, colors and textures.
- What is the strangest food you have ever eaten?
- The vegetarian short list includes: chrysanthemum leaf tempura and the fruit of the Chinese dogwood tree (cornus kousa).
- What do you cook when home alone?
- Soups....pasta, especially spaetzle.
- Your most treasured kitchen possession:
- I think it is my mother's old wire cooling rack...it has fond memories back to my earliest days. You can see it in two of my pfeffernusse recipe photos.
