Food writer Amanda Hesser is a recent favorite of mine, coming in for me on the heels of M.F.K. Fisher, with a refreshingly more modern bent. After noticing her NY Times Sunday Magazine “Food Diary” column, I poked around for every new Hesser article in the Food section and eagerly awaited her Sunday dispatches. I based our new coffeemaker purchase on her researched opinion and linked to her articles here at least twice. A couple weeks ago I had the epiphany that perhaps she had already written a book and discovered her lovely memoir/cookbook, “The Cook and the Gardener : A Year of Recipes and Writings for the French Countryside“, at the local library. I tried her asparagus risotto recipe. Yummy.

A man has been making frequent appearances in her “Food Diary” columns. She gave him a cute nickname at first, “Mr. Latte” (reminiscent of Fisher’s Chexbres). As the relationship progressed for the better, he became Tad (he’s actually New Yorker writer Tad Friend). And this past weekend, in a cleverly constructed column on the relationship between her cooking and her moods, she revealed that he was now her fiance. I shed happy tears.

More from and on Hesser:
Foodie to Watch
Finding Success (hard work and a little luck)
Corby Kummer on her cookbook
Hesser on Pilates