Winner of Your Best Celery Recipe

Congratulations to inpatskitchen, whose Roasted Celery Soup won the contest for Your Best Celery Recipe!

Q&A with inpatskitchen

1. Describe an early food experience that has influenced the way you think about food and/or cooking. 
I was always amazed at how my Mom was so organized when preparing for large dinners or family get-togethers. She was an amazing cook and I watched carefully. Every year she would do a sit down dinner for 10 to 12 on Christmas at 1 pm and then at 4:30 would open up the house for 30 to 40 more for a large buffet. She taught me how to cook and plan ahead and to this day if I can prepare anything ahead of time, I do. I inherited her "Betsy Clark" recipe file book in which she wrote many of her recipes (although not too precisely) and refer to it frequently. It's well worn and very stained but so many good things are in it, as well as so many memories.

2. What's your least favorite food?
I'll eat them but I'm not crazy about Sloppy Joes.

3. What is the best thing you've made so far this year?
Husband Tom will always say my Beef Burgundy, but I actually think the Spring Vegetable and Salmon Nicoise Platter that I made for Your Best Spring Vegetable Recipe
contest was terrific and can see making it frequently this summer with seasonal vegetables.

4. Describe your most spectacular kitchen disaster.
Actually this past week ... I made pork hand pies for the street food contest but they turned into "bricks". Tom tossed a piece of pork into the dog's bowl and it literally bounced! Oh well, you win some ... you lose some.

5. What is your idea of comfort food?
Roast chicken and then the next day chicken noodle or rice soup from the leftovers.

6. Apron or no apron?
No apron ... just a lot of Zout and Shout!

7. What's your favorite food-related scene in a movie?
I'm not much of a movie-goer but I did get a kick out of Darryl Hannah eating the whole lobster (shell and all) in Splash until I found out it was all tofu!

8. If you could make a show-stopping dinner for one person, living or dead, who would it be?
Probably my mom ... I think she'd actually enjoy my cooking.

9. You prefer to cook: a. alone, b. with others, c. it depends on your mood
I prefer to cook alone but it's probably because of the size of my kitchen.

10. When it comes to tidying up, you usually: a. clean as you cook, b. do all the dishes once you've finished cooking, c. leave the kitchen a shambles for your spouse/roommate/kids to clean.
I usually clean as I cook but I have been known to leave the kitchen in shambles.