JESS THOMSON is an award-winning freelance food and travel writer, and the author of seven cookbooks, many written with Seattle-area restaurateurs, plus her recent memoir, A Year Right Here: Adventures with Food and Family in the Great Nearby. Her work has appeared in the New York Times; Food & Wine; Cooking Light; and Seattle, Sunset, and Edible Seattle magazines; and in multiple issues of the yearly Best Food Writing book collection. She lives in Seattle with her husband and eight-year-old son.