Marie Hejl, Cooking With Marie

Marie Hejl is crazy about crab cakes, big Greek salads and pumpkin bread. She is so passionate about food, in fact, that she gave up her job as a lawyer to teach cooking classes, write a cookbook and host an award-winning television show, Cooking with Marie, seen in more than 80 markets nationally, plus Canada, New Zealand and Australia. Marie has been featured in numerous local, regional and national media, including Southern Living Magazine and The Martha Stewart Show. She was recently selected as one of the top 100 food-related people in her hometown, Austin, Texas. Although she still provides legal services in a volunteer capacity and mentors law students, Marie now spends most of her time cooking, filming, teaching, and crafting -- often with her family, friends, and "Cooper," her adorable Chocolate Lab. And another testimony for her crab cakes: Hejl married John Saba this past spring after a courtship that evolved from his first taste of her famous crab cakes.  We offer a big Abilene “Howdy” to Marie who is participating in her first Cookbook Gala.
www.withmarie.com

Tom Perini, Texas Cowboy Cooking

Tom Perini is considered Abilene’s local legendary chef even though he lives in Buffalo Gap, Texas. Tom’s cookbook was first published in 2000. Texas Cowboy Cooking continues to be a best seller and is now in its fifth printing.  Tom’s restaurant, the Perini Ranch Steakhouse in Buffalo Gap, is a true destination restaurant that will celebrate its twenty-fifth Anniversary this year. Tom has cooked and served his famous authentic Texan fare all across this country and internationally, including the Food and Wine Festival in Aspen.  Tom catered the 2002 Congressional Picnic at the White House and has cooked in Crawford, Texas, for President George W. Bush, Russian President Vladimir Putin, President Jiang Zemin of China, and for two of the Chiefs of Staff of the Air Force in Washington, D.C.  He has been invited to cook at the James Beard House in New York City six times and in 2005 he was named to the Texas Restaurant Association Hall of Fame. Most recently Texas Monthly(December, 2007) selected Perini Ranch Steakhouse as “The 3rd Best Steakhouse in Texas.”  We welcome Tom back to this year’s Cookbook Gala.
www.periniranch.com

Rebecca Rather, Pastry Queen & Pastry Queen Christmas

A native Texan, Rebecca Rather makes the most of her Lone Star state's varied traditions, whether looking to the kitchens of Texas' Mexican and German immigrants or to the cowboy culture of her own forebears.  A pastry chef, restaurateur, and cookbook author, Rebecca Rather has been proprietor of the Rather Sweet Bakery and Café in Fredericksburg since 2001. Rebecca is the author of The Pastry Queen and The Pastry Queen Christmas: Big-Hearted Holiday Entertaining, Texas Style.Her Christmas cookbook was named 2008 Cookbook of the Year – American Category by the International Association of Culinary Professionals.  Rebecca has been featured in Texas Monthly, Gourmet, Ladies’ Home Journal, Food & Wine, Southern Living, Chocolatier, Saveur, USA Today and O, The Oprah Magazine.  An avid horsewoman, who rarely arrives at her local stable without treats for her equine buddies, she’s a dedicated member of the board of CANTER of Texas, a nonprofit group that places retired race horses in caring homes.  A warm Abilene “Welcome” is extended to this second-time participant in the Friends of the Library Cookbook Gala.
www.rathersweet.com