"I invite you to experiment and be outrageous. The only thing that will hold you back is a lack of imagination."

About the Author

     Author Kathy Etter was the owner of Cafe Chimes, a delightful vegetarian cafe located in the Village of North Conway, New Hampshire. Under Kathy's warm and capable auspices, the Cafe offered delicious, healthy food and provided a welcoming and comfortable meeting place for friends and visitors alike. Kathy Etter was an active and well-known member of her New Hampshire community. In addition to running her popular restaurant, conducting Vegetarian Cooking and Nutrition Classes, and writing newspaper columns, Kathy gave countless presentations for community groups, offering her energies to improve the health and well-being of her fellow community members.

     Kathy Etter had a long-standing dream of writing a cookbook that would truly express her love of wholesome food and the creative spirit of whole foods cookery. She wanted the book to reflect her joyful and creative approach to cooking as well as her strong commitment to healthy and nutritious food. With these goals in mind, she started writing the Cafe Chimes Cookbook in the Winter of 1997.

     In the midst of writing this cookbook, author Kathy Etter was stricken with a virulent form of lung cancer. In spite of a valiant struggle against the disease and strong community support, Kathy died in the Spring of 1998 at the age of 47.

     Chase Publishing and illustrator Shana Myers decided to continue the project after Kathy's death. They want to help fulfill Kathy's dream of writing a cookbook, and they saw the book as a way of keeping Kathy's indomitable spirit alive in her community and beyond its borders. Fortunately, they were helped immeasurably along the way by the generous gift of time and support from Kathy's many friends and colleagues who tested countless recipes, contributed their personal memories of Kathy, and provided ongoing encouragement for the duration of the project.

     What started as a relatively simple cookbook publishing endeavor turned into a very special collective effort. In addition to a wide array of tasty vegetarian recipes, illustrations, poetry and quotations, the Cafe Chimes Cookbook contains a special section entitled, "Memories of Kathy". In these pages, Kathy's colleagues and friends pay tribute to this remarkable woman who did so much to enhance the health and well-being of her community and its welcome visitors during her far-too-short life.