I appreciate that as the season’s change so, too, do our appetites and cravings for what appears on our dinnerware or even in cookie jars! One of the themes of this issue is food—apropos as we move into the holidays and all they entail on the eating end of things.
Doesn’t food taste better when kindness is one of its ingredients? On page 18, read about For Goodness Cakes, which unites nationwide chapters of volunteer bakers, who bake birthday cakes for foster children and at-risk youth.
Don’t think of honey as a purely summertime ingredient when you can add sweetness and flavored nuances to your food and beverages all year. On page 22, you’ll find The Honey Hut. Owners Tanya and Ryan Denny harvest about 1,200 pounds of honey a year and turn it into a variety of sweet and tasty products.
Speaking of sweet, Sarah Lofgren’s story on page 14 features her business, Baking It Real, a cookie kit design company that helps busy folks who want to have fresh-baked cookies in their cookie jars.
In our Tastemakers section on page 30, we highlight information about turkey production, buying and preparing your Thanksgiving bird and recipes for what some of us really love about serving turkey—leftovers!
I began this note talking about change, and that is where I’ll end it, too. I have been offered a wonderful opportunity within Tiger Oak Media to help with the creative vision of all of our community lifestyle magazines, and Ava Diaz will now serve as the editor of Maple Grove Magazine. Ava, who has been with the company as an intern and writer, is talented, enthusiastic and ready to begin her tenure within these pages. She is well-versed in our communities, having grown up on the west side of the Metro. After graduating from the University of St. Thomas, where she received her bachelor’s degree in communication and journalism with a minor in English, Ava attended New York University’s Summer Publishing Institute, where learned some of the ins and outs of magazine publishing.
Ava enjoys trying out new dining spots, traveling and coaching Edina High School’s junior varsity dance team. Join me in welcoming Ava to the community!
Renée Stewart-Hester
