I grew up in the North Carolina piedmont, under the tutelage of some fine southern cooks who taught me the glories of red eye gravy, October beans stewed with ham hock, and sweet iced tea.
In college, I expanded my experience with food by apprenticing with a cheese maker for several years, during which time I not only learned how to make cheese, milk goats, and enjoy scraping cheese scum off the floor, but also the dynamics of the farmers' market and the glories of fresh, local food.
After a brief stint at a bakery, my husband and I started to work for his family's cookbook business. We currently test and develop recipes, do food photography, write a blog, publish newspaper articles, and are developing something really awesome that I can't discuss yet. We garden and keep chickens and cook. A lot.
I also own a very small, fledgling baking business in Knoxville, Tennessee called the Little Blue Baking Company. I use local, seasonal ingredients to create high-quality French pastries for sale at the farmers' market.
- What is the strangest food you have ever eaten?
- alligator cheesecake
- What do you cook when home alone?
- hippie food--anything that involved lots of veggies in a big cast iron skillet and brown rice or noodles
- Your most treasured kitchen possession:
- a Dazey butter churn bought for me by my grandfather
- The ideal number of guests for a dinner party is:
- 6
