About

I am a freelance writer with a passion for literature, art, travel, and food. I live in Western Massachusetts where I spend a few hours every day in my favorite spot, the kitchen. One of the things I love about living in this area is the number of local farm stands and markets featuring fresh, herbs, produce, and dairy products. Every spring through fall, I shop my top picks for fresh ingredients to create healthy, full flavor cuisine.

Cooking has been a passion of mine since I was 9 years old when I began experimenting with whatever ingredients I could find in the cupboards. A few of my specialties included: poached and scrambled eggs, mac n’ cheese with tuna fish or sausage, popcorn with a peanut butter and honey glaze, fruit pancakes too large to fit in the cast iron skillet let alone my mouth, and most notably, cupboard cookies.

Most of my concoctions were successful, with the exception of the later, which I took the greatest liberties with. Like their name, cupboard cookies were made from ingredients found in the kitchen. For some reason, I never used a recipe for the cookies, relying instead on my ability to recall what my grandmother used to make her delicious treats. That was it. The recipe was simple and allowed for creative additions and subtractions.

Unfortunately, these early versions of cupboard cookies were heavy on oil and light on flavor. They were immediately thrown into the trash.

The lessons I learned early on in my search for the perfect cookie was to be willing to make mistakes and to enjoy the process of trying new recipe combinations. Lucky for my family and friends, my cookies no longer land in the trash bin but rather into their satisfied stomachs.

When I’m not experimenting in the kitchen, I’m writing for print and online publications, making photographs, and planning my next travel destination.