She's been writing about food for nearly 30 years, during which time she's been—among other things—a Berkeley, Calif., restaurateur; restaurant critic and food editor for the Los Angeles Times; restaurant critic for the New York Times; editor-in-chief of Gourmet magazine; three-time James Beard Award winner; editor of the new Modern Library Cooking Series; bestselling author; wife and mother. (Yes, but what about her spare time?) She's the celebrated foodie Ruth Reichl, about whom the Washington Post noted, "Reading Ruth Reichl on food is almost as good as eating it." Now she follows up her 1998 memoir, Tender at the Bone, with Comfort Me with Apples: More Adventures at the Table, published by Random House on April 12 with a 70,000-copy first printing. PW's starred review noted that Reichl "displays a sure hand, an open heart and a highly developed palate." Other glowing notices have appeared in the New York Times (both daily and Sunday), Entertainment Weekly, New York magazine and USA Today. She's appeared on Today, NPR's Morning Edition; she was the subject of a Time feature; and she's currently on an 11-city coast-to-coast tour.

With reporting by Dick Donahue