My Kitchen Partner

I really should have named this site Stephencooks_&_E_cleans.com

In the servantless household of 2005  2009, no one could cook the way I do, let alone blog about it, and still have a life if he had to also do all the cleanup.

Fortunately for me, I have a wonderful partner in this venture: my wife of over eight twelve years, Elise Smith.

Elise is a magna cum laude Phi Beta Kappa poet, best-selling novelist, and top-notch editor. A woman of exquisite taste and style, she is usually the most fashionable women in any room she enters. Also she is cat-obsessed, a speedwalker and a sexy-new-shoe-buying (always at deep discount) black belt shopper.

The combination of Elise's love of good food and entertaining -- and her willingness to do most of the dirty work -- and my love of putting a good dish on the table makes a great partnership. Unfortunately I get most of the credit for our cooking output, so today I wanted to widen the spotlight to include the whole team.

For all that Elise is, and all she does to help me in every part of my life, I am humbly grateful.