About Jennifer


cool author photo

I was born and raised in San Francisco in a 1905 house on a moderately steep hill. I was very shy as a child and spent a lot of time flipping through my mother's complete collection of the Time and Life Foods of the World series, which she kept in the living room. I brought the books into the kitchen and started cooking.

First day of kindergarten
I graduated from Stanford University in 1988 with a degree in American Studies. I've written and edited for many and varied publications in the years since, including Slate, Fortune, Entertainment Weekly,  and VIA. I've written primarily about books and food, but have also done a lot of travel writing, specializing in homely, desolate towns of the Western United States, my favorite kind of town.

The blog began as a way to write about my huge cookbook collection and fascination with cookbooks.

collecting = focused, organized hoarding? 

the stacks
From the blog, in its winding way, grew Make the Bread, Buy the Butter, which, broadly speaking, is about cooking, parenthood, Barbara Kingsolver, goats, finances, Safeway, and contemporary American family life. Specifically, the life of my family, about whom you can read more here.

Married, 2 little kids