ABOUT THIS COOK:

We're in Marrakech for the year -- and Thursday nights I cook dinner for a couple other teachers and their families (my husband Paul teaches mathematics at the American school here). I love the way good food and drink can pull people together. And I was so happy a couple months ago to stumble on the food52 project -- fun to keep pace with the tastes of home, or at least be able to imagine them. (As I'm sure you've heard a thousand-thousand times, the combination of stories and lives and luscious photos and clearly-articulated recipes is a delight most days -- a little daunting on others.) My blog is not dedicated to all-things-Moroccan-food, but I do love food from all over, love to think about it, describe it -- and love that now there's this virtual crossroads of great home cooks from everywhere, with all their wealth of delectable thought and experience.

• What is the strangest food you have ever eaten?
  Horse. During a home-stay in France outside Dijon, as a 15 year-old. It was good, rich -- unexpectedly so, but bloody. That's all I allow myself to recall.

• What do you cook when home alone?
  What I'd call nursery food: omelette with fresh thyme and camembert, butter lettuce with a shallot vinaigrette, bread with a respectable crust, sweet butter. A version of comfort food, tuned to a grown-up palate.

• Your most treasured kitchen possession:
  I've missed the Kitchen Aide this year. Knew that I would. Miss my best whisk and its good friend the lovely copper bowl.

• The ideal number of guests for a dinner party is:
  My friend Courtney's mother says eleven's perfect -- odd numbers shake things up, just gently. But I love dinner for four in the living room, everyone seated around the large square coffee table.