i'm a food writer and cooking teacher, born and raised in Piedmont North Carolina, and living here now, in Chapel HIll, after years of travel and adventure far away, in Thailand, New York City, and Southern California. After graduating from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill (English major!), I joined the Peace Corps and spent 3 years in Thailand, teaching English as a Second Language to middle schoolers in Surin Province. Back home, I lived in New York City and then in Irvine and Carlsbad, California, had a family, started writing about food (catering and I were not a fit, to my surprise), and moved back to North Carolina 14 years ago. I have loved to cook since I as able to do it (10? 12? I don't remember...), and loved teaching other people to do it since I got interested in food writing. My ten cookbooks cover Asian food as well as Southern baking, and my favorite career moment thus far was playing the Cake Detective on Alton Brown's television show, Good Food. I loved creating this cookie e-book, because holiday baking has brought me great joy for decades, and because I loved the idea of doing a book all by myself, start to finish. Here it is, and you are! Happy cooking, happy baking, happy eating. I hope you'll make some cookies, and visit me on my blog (Contact Nancie section) to tell me and if possible show me, how things went. Holiday greetings and blessings to one and all, and Let There Be Cookies!!!!!