Erica Bauermeister

"The School of Essential Ingredients follows the lives of eight people from different walks of life who gather every Monday night for a cooking class taught by Lillian, a famous chef whose alchemy in the kitchen has made her a local sensation. It soon becomes clear, however, that each student--including a teenage waitress, a young mother, a widower, and a long-married couple--comes seeking a recipe for something beyond the kitchen. One by one they...

Six women gather to celebrate their friend Kate's recovery from cancer, where she strikes a bargain with them: to celebrate her new lease on life, she'll do the one thing that's always terrified her, but if she does, each of them will also do one thing that they'd find difficult.

Restaurant owner Lillian manages an unexpected challenge while sharing her days with a circle of friends and regulars, including ritual-performing accountant Al, heartbroken chef Chloe, and unobtrusive giant Finnegan.