Barbara Walch

Her good taste and culinary expertise has whet readers' appetites for more than 20 years.

Food Editor Barbara Walch joined Plano Profile in 1986. Three years later, a readership survey indicated the need for a cooking feature including recipes. "Dining In" is a favorite among readers today and includes two to three recipes in the magazine and additional recipes online.

Barbara can dish it out and take it in—delicoius food, that is. In addition to "Dining In," Barbara is one of three "dining divas" who invites high-profile guests from the community to dine with and feature each month in "Divas Dine Out."

Says Barbara, "Being the social person I am, I love the opportunities to meet the most interesting people in our community and tell their story in print, even when they think they don't have a story to tell! Everyone has a story to tell ... they just don't always know it. And I'm pleased to say that I have become close friends with a few of the people I've interviewed over the years. Now that's rewarding!"

Barbara has been cooking ever since she was a teenager but her real interest took hold when she and her husband moved from Michigan to the South Bay area of San Francisco in 1978. As they began to entertain friends and co-workers in their home more frequently, Barbara chose to take basic French cooking classes from chef and cookbook author Donna Nordin. "I was hooked," she says. "Taking cooking classes is still one of my favorite things to do and I've taken many over the years, mostly from professional chefs and cookbook authors."

Some of her most notable culinary experiences have been at the Culinary Institute of America (CIA) in Napa Valley, California, in the Sophisticated Palate series with chef and cookbook author John Ash, and at La Combe en Perigord in southwest France with chef, cheese purveyor, and cookbook author Paula Lambert. "My dream is to take cooking classes in Tuscany, Italy, which I hope to do next year," says Barbara.

Previous to working for Plano Profile magazine, Barbara's background was in administration and corporate writing. "How wonderful it has been to combine my lifelong love of cooking and entertaining into a part-time career that has spanned 20 years," she says.

Barbara is a member of the International Association of Culinary Professionals (IACP), where she was part of the host committee for the IACP conference held in Dallas in 2005 and co-chaired the closing event, which was a barbecue festival and celebrity chef cook-off. She is also a member of the Stonebridge Ranch Ladies Association, as well as the Plano Symphony Orchestra Guild, and served as co-chair for the CITY House founders dinner held in 2008. In her spare time, Barbara loves to play golf, read cookbooks, spend time with friends, and volunteer in the community.

E-mail Barbara