Adventures in Dining magazine won two coveted "Maggie" Awards - The Magazine World's Equivalent to the Oscars. At the 35th Annual Maggie Awards held in Los Angeles on April 3, 1992, the one-year-old quarterly won Best Visitor's Guide and Best Table of Contents and was also nominated for Best New Publication against many other national magazines including Bon Appetit, Sunset magazine.

Before there was my life of heirloom tomatoes, before my life within the Monterey Vineyard, before starting the San Francisco Wine Center, before Monterey Life magazine, or my restaurant in Carmel, California, The Bayou Cafe, there was Adventures In Dining magazine.

Inspirations to my starting Adventures In Dining magazine in the early 70s were many. I loved to cook and I valued sharing good food and the dining experience with others. And while living in Boulder, Colorado, as an architectural illustrator, I was gifted 'A Treasury of Great Recipes,' a collection of recipes from favorite restaurant experiences by Mary and Vincent Price. Vincent was a celebrated actor best known for his performances in horror films. He also was a respected art collector...and a 'foodie,' before there was such a word. He traveled the world and shared in this 'treasury,' the recipes from his favorite restaurants. The experience of cooking many of the recipes included in this book and others, launched me onto the road, many roads, mostly back roads, the 'blue highways' of western America. And on these journeys between the mountains of Colorado and the spectacular coastline of Carmel, California to start my first magazine, I made culinary discoveries..."Good Food" stops along the way.

When these special experiences occurred, they stood proudly apart, with homespun character, distinctive from the more homogeneous restaurants that dotted the highways and guaranteed their customers the same franchised experience throughout the country. I wanted to share my stories of special food and people finds to enhance the lives of the respective producers and recipients.

I established my publishing base in Carmel, and introduced myself, and my intention to share with residents and visitors of Central California, the unique qualities of food grown, produced and served. With no publishing experience I was able to fulfill my publishing dream with the generous help of others from the community. (Note: When I started assembling the magazine, I was in a wheelchair from being recently run over by a powerboat while long distance swimming in Lake Tahoe.) When starting, I did all the writing, sales and marketing, layouts, and some of the illustration myself, but soon I depended heavily upon the contribution of talented photographers (Barbara Moon and Fernando Batista of Batista-Moon Studio), and illustrators (R.W. (Bill) Cooke and Ron Grauer of Fingerote & Grauer Advertising, and in later years: Peter and Carol Sealey, Christopher Dix, Pam Dozier, Kelli Uldall, Steve Snider, Joan Dew, Sandra Leader, staff of The Monterey County Herald, all of whom believed in me, and the benefit of my venture. You know who you are. Thank you all...those here and those departed.

In 1981, Monterey Life, the magazine I created with a team of exceptional associates, won the "Maggie" Award over hundreds of other national magazines for "Best New Consumer Magazine."

After I sold the magazine, Steve Snider and his team did the magazine proud and carried it to new heights. He went on to become the Owner/Publisher of Carmel magazine to realize many years of success and contribution to the community-at-large.

Fresh from a business in architectural design, with a passion for cooking and food adventures, I was inspired by my favorite cookbook, 'The Treasury of Great Recipes' by actor/gourmand Vincent Price, to design a magazine that would celebrate food grown, produced, prepared and served, Adventures in Dining in 1974. I had no prior experience in publishing.

During the first few years I produced most of the editorial and photographic content myself until finding a supportive team of talented writers, artists and photographers. With the help of those excellent photographers, like Batista Moon Studio, Adventures In Dining became the first magazine in our region to feature color photography. This magazine/visitor guide sought to celebrate and champion excellence in food, food production and food service. The magazine burst into success after joining in partnership with the skilled and committed team at The Herald newspaper, who became the magazine's publisher.

The success of this magazine, and all of the successful ventures of my life, was solely due to the team of devoted, courageous and skilled persons who believed in the promise of me and my creations.

In my "golden years," I find myself in an enjoyable state of gratitude...for all those people who encouraged me and offered me love along the way. Thank you for providing me the experience of extended "family," and embellishing my life.