What do you get when you have a group of former catholic school girls? A bit of intelligence, a dash of literary know how, and a heaping tablespoon of devious deliciousness. Put us in the kitchen, and well, it’s a recipe for sure, for success or failure is to be determined.

And that is just who we are. A group of girls from the class of 1999, from an all-girl’s catholic school (SHA Yes!). We each have a penchant for the literary and culinary, and so we come together with a little bit of cookery and a little bit of bookery. Each month we will together read one book that is filled with meals, recipes, or parties and as we go, we will each attempt a recipe from that book. We will be blogging about the book as well as our cooking adventures… and meeting up when we can! It is sure to be an adventure and oh yes, we will be cooking the books!

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Marilla is a (late) twenty-something living in New York who has an obsession with designer bags, cosmetics, aprons & changing her haircolor (this past year alone she’s had black, 3 different shades of blonde, brown with blonde bangs and bright red). She runs a cooking/baking blog, Cupcake Rehab (cupcakerehab.com) & an internet portfolio, as well as a sort of “parking space” where all the sites she’s a part of or runs hang out. Along with cooking every night, baking a few times a week and being a freelance graphic designer/artist. She has a cat, Arwyn, & shares parentage of a dog, Indy, with her boyfriend of 6+ years, Jay, a New York City police officer. Marilla went to F.I.T. for both Fashion Design and Illustration & is one of those obnoxious people who subscribes to every fashion magazine in existence. Aside from being a fashion fanatic, she’s a food lover who loves eating, cooking & reading about food as well. And an addict: addicted to Coke Zero. She’s an avid (speed) reader who can read a 700-page book in one sitting & a grammar Nazi who mentally corrects people’s Instant Messages, Facebook status updates, texts and e·mails. She dreams in HTML so is therefore the resident webmaster /designer of Cooking the Books. Her favorite pastimes include cooking/baking, going to museums (at age 17 she interned at the Metropolitan Museum of Art’s Costume Institute, giving her even more reason to love the place, as if she needed any), reading (mostly Harry Potter, mysteries & 1920′s/ Henry VIII-era historical fiction & non-fiction like Alison Weir), good wine and watching movies. Oh- & blogging! Some of her favorite foods are anything Mexican, Italian, Asian and good ol’ fashioned greasy fried pub food (like fish & chips). Although homemade mac-n-cheese  and anything with broccoli is high on the list too.

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Brianne is also a (late) twenty-something, former New Yorker transplanted to rural Pennsylvania. Since becoming wife to Brett (2006) and Mommy to Madeline (2008), some things have changed – she no longer gets paid for her job, but as a mom, what she gets to do daily is priceless. Brianne also cooks daily, bakes at least once a week, and teaches her daughter the things she herself loves. What has not changed is her love for designer shoes, bags, reading, and cooking.  An avid reader for as long as she can remember, Brianne polishes off a novel in a day and bad grammar drives her CRAZY. She tries to share her love for both reading and cooking with her daughter – they do both together every day,  and when they’re cooking, it’s usually in matching aprons.  Brianne has a bachelor’s degree from the University of Scranton in Criminal Justice, and will be getting her AA in Education in the Spring of 2010 with another bachelor’s (and maybe a Master’s) to follow. When she’s not running the household, her Brett and Madeline enjoy being together as a family – at the park, in the backyard, or Madeline’s favorite spot – the zoo! They travel back and forth to New York quite a bit – as often as possible with a toddler.  Brianne enjoys books of all genres – but her favorite (legal thrillers) lies in her years-long loyalty to John Grisham (she was selected among a few to receive a galley copy of his newest work Ford County to read and review for Doubleday Publishing).  She also enjoys her share of chick-lit – Emily Giffin, Marion Keyes, Sophie Kinsella. Brianne recently started her own foodie blog, Iron Chef Mommy, so be sure to check it out!

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Most people can fall into two categories, cooks or eaters.  Some people are lucky enough to be both.  Jeanine on the other hand, forks down is an EATER!  Most of her cooking experiences end with her husband Shaun asking “Do I smell something burning?!” and him racing to the kitchen as he shouts expletives.  Jeanine is lucky that Shaun even allows her to step foot in his kitchen.  Yes, you read that correctly, “his kitchen”.  Thank God Shaun is an excellent cook.  If he left it to Jeanine, they would starve or worse: live on frozen pizza.  Despite the fact that Jeanine is culinarily- challenged she is very excited to do some damage in the kitchen try some new recipes!  Some of her favorite foods include pretty much anything with cheese like cheeseburgers, pizza, lasagna, macaroni and cheese and baked ziti. Jeanine lives in Woodside, NY with her husband Shaun.  Jeanine is a Disneyphile so when she and her family are on vacation you can most certainly find them in their favorite Orlando hotspot, Walt Disney World.  Jeanine can be characterized as “Oscar the Grouch” meets “Cookie Monster”, grumpy except when it’s meal time!  Jeanine spends the bulk of her time working for an investment bank in their equity derivates trade support group.  In her spare time, Jeanine loves to cycle and is currently learning how to swim.  Jeanine is an avid reader.  Some of her favorite genres include thrillers and adventure.  Some of her favorite authors include Dr. Seuss and Dan Brown. Jeanine is now working on her own vegan blog, Vegan Nourishment, as well as CTB.

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Gina is incredibly excited to be doing “cooking the books” with each of these awesome women. She is a self-described “nerd” who spent most of her childhood summers in the library. In fact, she read Anne of Green Gables each year of elementary school…catapulting her love for chic lit. Gina also grew up on food. Italian to the bone, each Sunday was an outpour of pasta, sauce, meat, and a personal favorite…bread with olive oil. She easily fell in love with cooking, baking, and eating. Her husband of two years, Matthew, has taste tested all too many recipes (some excellent, some disastrous) and in the process they have both put on the proof of a love for food in pounds. Gina is a bit of an amalgdum of opposites. She lives in suburbia, but loves the urban lifestyle. She is a hard-core feminist, who loves Chivalry and being in the kitchen, and she is an organic health nut who loves butter and hates yoga. Gina lives with her husband Matthew, and their dog, Abygayle on Long Island, NY. She lives next door to her parents, in the house she grew up in…which is slightly Everybody Loves Raymond. After changing careers a few times she has finally landed in the field of social work and recently started working, finally having time to return to her love of reading and cooking. After so many careers Gina is also slightly displaced, having lost touch with many friends from different careers and locations. After reading Julie and Julia and viewing the Jane Austin Book Club in the same week (in Puerto Rico) she began to miss having a group of friends who shared similar interests. She figured there must be a way to combine each of these cooking and reading ideas. With the input of each of these ladies and beloved facebook, Cooking the Books was born. Gina is also incredibly excited to be returning to her high school ancestry and joining with Brianne, Jeanine, and Marilla (post braces and bangs) in a project filled with the culinary and the literary.