Valerie Wright

Connect Who or what inspires you to cook?

I know a lot of people say their mom but I am going with that because my mom was known for her cooking/baking. Friends and family would love getting an invitation to our house for an occasion or dinner. I grew up in a small farming community and she was the beloved public librarian who was also an incredible cook/baker. Aside from that, I was probably the only farm kid in my small town who had a subscription to Gourmet magazine. Still making some of those recipes today, so my mom and Gourmet

What's your all time favorite dish to make?

An apple pie from an old New England recipe book that uses lard (from my husband's family) and a minestrone soup recipe from a local group's soup cookbook raising money for charity...and pumpkin chocolate chip cookies from a local home economist that used to have a column in the newspaper. I have clients request them and I work at an architectural company.

What would you do with the $25,000?

My YouTube baking channel: Musings of a GenX Home Baker started as a creative outlet but became a love letter about family and friends. I had a set list based on the t-shirt I would wear, a recipe related to the person or people I was talking about, book recommendations and music/travel intel. It was just lovely storytelling and I would love to celebrate these extraordinary ordinary people with a coffee table book/mini documentary (would like to interview the featured people and new people).