ABOUT THIS COOK:

I love, love, LOVE to cook. I got the Betty Crocker Kid's Cookbook for Christmas when I was 8 or 9, and I made pizza with Bisquik crust. I still think about that recipe whenever I smell oregano. I was a single parent for 10 years, and I loved to cook for my son and me. Now I am remarried with a husband and two stepkids, and I have been cooking up a storm for everyone. Tonight I made chicken in a white wine sauce with prunes, it was delish. I also love to bake, and I recently made the apple pie pumpkin cake from this website, and it was a big hit. I love anything Amanda has ever written in the Times, altho I missed the whole cookbook thing. My fave. recipe from the NYT is the purple plum torte, everyone loves it, and my ex-husband's aunt makes it every Rosh Hoshana.

• What is the strangest food you have ever eaten?
  I don't rightly recall

• What do you cook when home alone?
  comfort food

• Your most treasured kitchen possession:
  stand mixer-I just got it, and it is unbelievable

• The ideal number of guests for a dinner party is:
  4 or 8