Yarmouth’s Lily King is the mother of two daughters and two novels: The Pleasing Hour and The English Teacher. Our September feature, “It’s Good to be King” shares a slice of how the award-winning author balances family and fiction. While in the middle of writing her third novel, King took a few moments to answer our MH+D Questionnaire.

Anneke Jans Chef Charlie Cicero is inspired by simple ingredients of exquisite quality. Our September feature “Leap of Faith” tells the whole story. Here, we offer the recipe for one Cicero’s specialties: Bangs Island mussels steamed in shallot sauce with a hint of cream then topped with apple wood smoked bacon and crumbled Great Hill blue cheese.

Up in Lincolnville, Cellardoor Winery & Vineyard co-owners Bettina Doulton and John Tynan are wine lovers of the first order. You can read about how the pair resurrected a 200-year-old barn and are expanding their thriving vineyards in our September feature, “The New Pioneers.” For some ideas of what food to pair with Cellardoor’s wine, read on.

The young furniture maker Eric Ritter has turned his circa-1790 farmhouse in New Gloucester into an inspiring design studio and workshop. Ritter’s story is told in our August 2008 profile, “The Futurist Obsessed with the Past.” The visual story of Ritter’s outdoor furniture line, Morphology, is told here in photographs by Irvin Serrano.

Back Bay Grill’s Chef Larry Matthews has that rare culinary ability to both keep his regulars happy and constantly tempt new customers. The restaurant shines in our August 2008 feature, “Everything Old is New Again.” We convinced Matthews to share two recipes with us: one to start a meal and a second to end it!

As the winner of the inaugural women’s Olympic marathon, Joan Benoit Samuelson has long been a favorite Maine daughter. We were proud to feature Samuelson in our August 2008 profile, "Joan Benoit Samuelson's Gold Mettle."

Having just hosted the 11th annual TD Banknorth Beach to Beacon 10K in Cape Elizabeth, we cornered the ever-moving Samuelson to answer our MH+D Questionnaire:

In our July profile of Damariscotta-based artist John Whalley (“The Humanity of Detritus”) we talk at length about his ability to imbue inanimate objects with a human quality: “Whalley can infuse an object as mundane as a hammer with such emotion that it becomes a portrait not of a tool, but of the man who once used it.” While the artist’s work proves this statement time and again, Whalley is also extremely gifted and adept with portraiture.