Our family spends a lot of time deciding what to have for dinner, cooking, reading about food, talking about food, browsing through markets, having people over for dinner, traveling to places to eat the food. On one occasion, we were prepping our son for a trip across the USA that he was going to take with some English friends. We wanted him to be sure to expose his friends to local specialties along the way. We ended up talking into the night, and my son sighed and said, "You know, we've been talking about nothing but food for four hours straight. Maybe we should write a book."

He said later, that he didn't see any rip-snorting enthusiasm for this idea. That was probably because I was distracted - my mind was spinning. The next day, I started to write. I thrust 20 pages into my son's mail slot and waited for his reaction. That was the beginning, and we encourage all members of our family and food loving friends to participate. The variety of responses has been great - everything from funny to sad. We enjoy these stories so much that we now read them aloud to each other at dinner parties.

This exercise has resulted in essays by the following cast of characters:

Christopher Daniels: Scion of the Daniels family, the one whose idea it really was and a major contributor. Self-described as more of an eater than a cook, he also maintains the website.

Heather Daniels: The oldest Daniels child (now a grandmother), who has a great palate and loves to eat but who doesn't cook herself nearly enough to suit the rest of us.

Joanne Daniels: The one who writes about food and travel, and cooks, when allowed in the kitchen. Now only trotted out for baking and menu planning.

Tod Daniels: Chief cook. Tod cooks the everyday meals (the hardest ones of all), lavish feasts, holiday meals and dinner parties. He also teaches a cheese class a few times each year at various community colleges.

John England: Family member emeritus, John is a welcome addition to our table.  He is devoted to cheescake and has spent years developing his recipe.  His cheesecake has become the traditional ending to our Christmas dinner.

Jeff Omalanz-Hood: Chris's friend since high school and a co-opted member of the Daniels family. When he married, he and his wife Jeanie set about to learn to cook the kinds of food they liked to eat. We have cheered them on, being on the receiving end of this culinary prowess. Jeff teaches a popular wine class at Shoreline Community College.

Fern Leopold: A friend of forty years, who explores her heritage growing up in Seattle and her experiences as a room service waitress in the Waldorf-Astoria in the 1940s while studying the violin.

Jackie Jardine-Moore: Tod's younger cousin, who has always been a good addition to the table, wine tasting excursions and travels abroad, and who is a damn good cook, as well.

Chris Taylor: Another "favorite son" of the Daniels family and friend of Chris's since high school, who also writes well, eats well and cooks well. Luckily getting him to cook is not as difficult as convincing him to write.

Copyright © 2005, 2006 by Joanne B. Daniels