Rebecca grew up with a spatula in one hand and a paintbrush in another, among a family of artists and cooks. She received her first watercolors at age 5, when she also observed my mother and grandmother transforming mounds of brilliant vegetables into delicious, comforting soups. She’s blended the two together, as chef/author of 7 award-winning cookbooks and a painter. She finds making art and cooking opportunities to be fully present in life, to pay attention to flavor, color, texture and composition. To be inspired by nature. To be so absorbed in tasks that time expands. Working in her kitchen or studio is an immersion experience, in a vibrant, reverent, tactile, visual world.