Welcome to The Cook and the Writer!

Two avid eaters exploring the world.

We are Mary (“The Cook”) and Mike (“The Writer”).  We have been partners in life and mischief for a long, long time.  We created this site to share our love of good food, good stories, interesting places and memorable experiences.  We’re happy you landed here, and hope you’ll come back from time to time.

We’re going to focus on quality content, not quantity of posts on our blog, so there may be some time between updates.  Our goal is to make each one worth the wait.  (You can also subscribe to the blog to get an email notice whenever we add a new post.)

Our inspiration for starting the blog is 1,000 Foods to Eat Before You Die , by Mimi Sheraton.  We have no grand ambition of sampling all 1,000, but intend to try as many as we can, and then to tell you what we think about them.  In addition, we will be on the lookout for other foods that complement or contrast with the ones in the book.

Some of the dishes will be prepared at home, and we’ll talk about the preparation, the successes and the flops.  Some things we’ll try at restaurants, and we will give our review of the presentation, the service and the ambience.

We will talk about good wines, spirits and beers that complement the foods…or that we just simply like.

We will also tell some travel stories, show some pictures and invite your comments and suggestions.

Above all, we’ll have some fun, and we hope you will, too.

The Cook and The Writer