So what's the concept behind the "Edible Literature Night" potluck you threw a few weeks back?

Well, I love food and I love reading, so I thought it would be wonderful to create an event where people could make dishes from passages in their favorite books.

What did the night end up tasting like?

Delicious. Two people made the lentil dish in Jhumpa Lahiri's story "When Mr. Pirzada Came to Dine." Then there were a lot of the pies and tarts that tend to come with children's literature. We also ate Proust's madeleines, stew from Lord of the Rings, and frankfurters, sauerkraut, and strawberry jam from The Phantom Tollbooth.

This is not the first time you've made me hungry in a confusing way. I remember last summer you took the Al Gore approach to food prep by baking cookies and casseroles on the dashboards and backseats of different people's cars. What did you bake in your car again?

Initially, I fried two eggs on the dashboard.

Did your car end up smelling like the Yellowstone sulfur pool?

The car smelled fine, as far as I remember.

What are you doing now that it's freezing and cars have become boring non-ovens that just take us to work?

I'm working on getting my MFA and studying public health. I also have a blog called Seattle Local Food that focuses on the intersections between nutrition, love, sustainability, and whimsy. You should check it out.