With formal studies in theater, music, architecture, sculpture, painting and photography, Alex came to realize that good food, prepared well, and in good company, was perhaps the highest form of art. He put himself through school as a waiter, where he discovered that food could be much more interesting than what he grew up with at home.

His acting career took him to Europe and the Mediterranean where his appreciation of fine food grew exponentially; he brought that appreciation with him when he came to Seattle in the early 1980s. A self-taught cook, Alex has practiced the philosophy of 'local, seasonal, fresh' for 25 years, after adopting the European habit of shopping for each day's meal on the day it was to be eaten.

Jill started cooking at the age of six, when her parents let her use the kitchen stove instead of caving in to her incessant demands for an EasyBake oven. After a few months of practice, her biscuits won second place in Pennsylvania's Lancaster County Fair, which is the closest she's ever come to being a professional chef.

A ten year veteran as a Seattle-based food writer, she is equally passionate about locally-sourced ingredients and the abundance of imported cultures that make this region so tasty. She makes time for volunteer projects, including helping create the Greenwood Space Travel Supply Store at 826 Seattle, and co-producing the first several of Seattle's Edible Book Festival.