ABOUT THIS COOK:

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, I met my fiancé, whose father happens to be the most current author of the Joy of Cooking. I was pretty psyched about that; he was very sheepish about it. After some debate, we agreed to work for the JOY, and here we are! We currently test recipes, 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 am also in the process of opening a farmers' market-sales-only baking business called the Little Blue Baking Company in Knoxville, Tennessee.

• 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