ABOUT THIS COOK:

I eat a vegetable-heavy diet in the Pacific Northwest. I worked as a baker during a few glorious years in high school and college, but haven't really been in a professional kitchen since (barring a few days teaching canning technique to a catering company and slinging pizzas in a friend's pizza truck).

• What do you cook when home alone?
  It's a bit embarassing what passes for dinner when I'm home alone. Popcorn, salad and cocktails? Bread, cheese and wine? Potstickers and raw carrots? All valid.

• Your most treasured kitchen possession:
  My sister, mother and grandmother all pooled together to buy me a Kitchenaid mixer one year. I think I love it for its matriarchal connections as much as for its egg beating.

• The ideal number of guests for a dinner party is:
  As many as can fit.