Two years ago, my husband Jack and I purchased a cabin in northern Wisconsin. We entertained guests every weekend last summer. Yikes!! That's a lot of cooking and eating. When I'm not cooking and eating at the cabin, I spend my time learning about wildflowers and how to attract birds to our yard. I love warm weather (don't ask me why I live in Minneapolis) so, during most winters we try to escape for a week or two. We’ve even become certified scuba divers. I've also been studying French for many years now and even though I can't speak it yet, I sure can read and understand French menus! Our grandson, Blake, was born this May. I can't wait until he’ll be able to eat my cooking. Better than that, I plan to teach him the joys of cooking. Jack's an architect and we live in a house that he designed. We are empty nesters and loving it.

I am a single, 30-something woman. I live in a 100-year-old house in St. Paul, Minnesota with Mia, my terrier-mix mutt. I have a very close-knit group of friends, almost all of whom live in my neighborhood and we often share meals (and cocktails) together. I occasionally date, but have found a night curled up on the couch with a good book produces far less anxiety and is usually more satisfying. I am not into food; I eat to live, not the other way around. It is not unusual for me to eat pizza or mac and cheese from a box two or three times a week. The fact that I make a living editing cookbooks is an endless source of amusement and amazement to my friends. I am a wordie, not a foodie. I majored in magazine journalism and worked in women's magazines in NYC for almost five years before returning home to Saint Paul.