Sandra CH Smith

A 265-page cookbook-memoir with 16 pages of the author's photos, this book includes original recipes and stories by the author from four phases of her life: The Childhood Days (Scottish Cuisine); The Restless Years (French and Other Foreign Treats); The Sailing Days (Southern Hemisphere & Tropical Tastes); and Today & Yesterday (American Favorites). The author has travelled and lived all over the world starting at age eleven when her Scottish mother took her and her twin to Scotland for a year of "sound Scottish schooling". While travelling "the continent", the author was mesmerized by the gorgeous people going in and out of American embassies and told her mother that one day, she would be a member of the Foreign Service. Sandra's life took a wild turn when she was 16, hanging out in North Beach with Ken Kesey and other Beat writers. She was eventually to receive a degree from L'Universite de Grenoble ("I chose Grenoble because it was close to skiing in the Alps"). After several years of travelling far and wide abroad, she met an ex-spy on the Canary Islands and ended up in Philadelphia where they were married. At 43, Sandra buys a 35-foot sailboat, teaches herself how to sail and spends the next seven years sailing her hot pink sailboat in the Pacific from San Francisco to Easter island, single-handing at times, short-handing at others. Her next book about all the sailing adventures is complete and in search of an agent or publisher.