Tinky Weisblat

Tinky "Dakota" Weisblat spent summers at Singing Brook Farm in Hawley during her childhood and returned home when she finished graduate school in 1991. She has a doctorate in American Studies from the University of Texas and a master's degree in journalism from the University of Tennessee. Tinky has worked in a variety of settings--teaching college, editing the catalog at the Museum of Television & Radio, introducing movies at a French film festival--but her first love is writing.

She is currently planning two new projects. TV Diners will offer recipes based on foods served in classic American television programs. (Ideas are welcome!) Cooking with Tinky All Year Long will explore recipes that appeal to both kids and adults, culled from Tinky's experience teaching young people to cook. It will feature seasonal fare (with special emphasis on major and minor holidays) and basic, fun-to-make foods.

From left to right, Patrick, Brighid, Rachel, Matthew, and Reilly prepare to consume the ice cream they have made in class with Tinky.

When not engaged in writing and recipe testing, Tinky moonlights as a cabaret chanteuse. She loves to sing American popular standards by such composers and lyricists as the Gershwins, Cole Porter, Johnny Mercer, and Irving Berlin. Appropriately, her signature tune is the lively "I Can Cook, Too!" from the Broadway musical On the Town.

Judith Russell

Artist Judith Russell (1934-1994) painted out of Shelburne Falls, Massachusetts. Her folk art was exhibited in Historic Deerfield as well as in other galleries in central and western Massachusetts. Inspired by Grandma Moses and by the beauty around her, Judy imaginatively depicted the people, animals, and landscapes about her in the past and present. She specialized in rosy scenes in which fields were always fertile and harmony reigned. Her strong interest in local land and farm preservation is apparent in the scenes she created for The Pudding Hollow Cookbook.

Judy's family would like to hear from people who are familiar with her artwork; her daughter Cara is in the process of compiling a list of all the artist's paintings, pieces of painted furniture, and miniatures. Anyone who owns a Judith Russell art work is asked to contact Cara in care of the Merry Lion Press at info@merrylion.com.