Megan Lubin’s close relationship with REAL food stems primarily from her mother whose skills in the kitchen are matched only by her obsession with fresh from-the-garden herbs and produce. Megan has a stomach befitting someone triple her size but balances her passion with regular exercise—she is an avid hiker, camper, Ultimate Frisbee player, biker, dancer, skier, snowboarder, and gardener. She began her internship with us in January 2011 and focuses on coordinating Just Simply... Cuisine’s publicity, partnerships and online outreach. 

Kate Joyce has loved cooking ever since college. After graduating from Colgate in 2009, she lived abroad in Sweden and traveled to Italy, France and Spain. She spent a month living with a family in Italy and quickly fell in love with the simplicity of Umbrian farm cooking. Upon returning from Europe, Kate moved to DC and began her internship with Just Simply... Cuisine’s senior project cooking classes. Since then, she has assisted Chris in countless classes and enjoys learning new cooking tricks and tips every class as well as eating the delicious food!

Elise Canup, an avid foodie and cook, is currently pursuing a Masters Degree in Italian. She has lived abroad in Tuscany and Sicily and has traveled extensively in Europe. The kitchen and market are also Elise’s favorite places to explore by tasting new foods and trying out new recipes. Her love for the kitchen has led her to spend summers working as a caterer and as an assistant teacher at a children’s cooking school as well as interning at Colonial Williamsburg’s Department of Historic Foodways. Besides cooking, Elise loves to swim and do yoga.

Peter Ward has been pairing food and wine in organized tastings for corporate and private clients since 2007. We are pleased to have him join Just Simply... Cuisine and provide us with a “snob-free” passport to the wine world while pairing affordable wines with all styles of cuisine.

Peter’s blog “Corkshrewd” will guide you through the wine world from the perspective of someone who entered it rather recklessly but now navigates it with confidence and ease.

Yasmine Sandhu specializes in creating light and delicious desserts using local and seasonal ingredients with bold, exotic flavors.  A graduate of the Cambridge School of Culinary Arts, she is a certified Culinary Professional (CCP) and a member of the International Association of Culinary Professionals (IACP).

Yasmine has worked at award-winning restaurants, including Rialto in Boston, MA and Equinox, Rock Creek, and New Heights here in Washington DC. Her recipes have been featured in a variety of publications including The Washington Examiner’s “Light and Delicious” and Redbook Magazine’s “Sweet Solutions”. Yasmine’s new website “Sugar and Spice” is coming soon.

Tory O’Kane has been stealing slices of pie and bits of bacon ever since she could crawl. At home, she specializes in leftovers, but in the workplace Tory specializes in development of small businesses. Her background is in branding and marketing. She spent the past three years building the brand for a dark fiber telecommunications company, Lexent Metro Connect, which was recently sold to Lightower Fiber Networks and most recently Metro Network Services. She is now pursuing her MBA at Dartmouth’s Tuck School of Business.

Mal Jones, an Alexandria, Virginia based artist, creates websites and provides other design services for small to medium sized companies. He loves working with local business owners to bring their work online.

Nils Tcheyan works with people and organizations to create images that capture the connections that happen when people come together. He's lived and worked all over the world and loves to meet people, hear what they are doing, and translate their stories into photos that can be shared with others.