Alicia Arnold is a current undergraduate student at the University of Washington who exudes a passion for life. She is active in many clubs and organizations in which she practices her leadership abilities. Alicia would like to carry the many skills she has learned in school to one day enter the business world. She is always in search of the next great adventure, filling her life with stories of her travels and the wonderful people she has met along the way. One way of engaging and bonding with another culture is partaking in their national cuisine, which Alicia finds herself sometimes overindulging in. Alicia is never one to deny a good bowl of guacamole with chips. To balance her love for food, she has become equally as passionate about nutrition and exercise.

Carly Hilios is a social media and public relations associate who loves writing, eating food and experiencing life. She grew up on an apple and cherry orchard in Eastern, Washington and still eats an apple day. From 2006-2008 she taught English overseas in Thailand, Turkey and Chile where she fell in love with international food and new flavors. She is still trying to perfect the art of rolling grape leaves for the sake of her Greek husband.

Chris Luk is originally from southern California and holds a bachelors degree in Biology from Loyola Marymount University. He is currently pursuing a graduate degree at the University of Washington in Environmental Engineering and Environmental Management. As a technical person, he is interested in why and how things work. He is curious about the interplay between sweet and salty and why some flavor combinations work, while others do not. Experiencing new foods and flavors is his passion as he believes that you don’t know what works until you try it. When not trying a new restaurant or recipe, he enjoys hiking, scuba diving, and playing tennis. He feels fortunate to be living in the emerald city and looks forward to experiencing the best Seattle has to offer.

Dinah (pronounced Di-na) is the Restauranteers Concierge. Dinah is our resident expert on food and restaurants. She understands cuisines and tastes from around the world, from the hot peppers of Mexico to the injera of Ethiopia. She loves helping people discover new taste and restaurant experiences. Her job is to provide guidance through the diverse restaurant scene in your city. Dedicated to providing only the best recommendations, Dinah spends day and night in search of extraordinary restaurants. She is excited about the full launch of Restauranteers and the unique opportunity it provides for her fans to have some exceptional dining experiences. Until then, she invites you to visit restauranteers.com to learn about food and dining through the Restauranteers blogs, restaurant profiles and contests.

J Mauss is a self-acclaimed health nut. Her love for fitness started at age 3 when she took her first gymnastics class. She spent the next 15 years flipping and twirling her way to captain of the Newport High School gymnastics team in 2003. Her love of fitness and nutrition only intensified at Washington State University where she took weekly dance, pilates and weight training classes while attaining a degree in Communication. In 2007 she took a severe tumble and wound up with a broken foot and ankle which forced her to focus on healing her injured foot. After unsuccessful visits with physical therapists she heard about the power of hot yoga and gave it a shot in August, 2008. Since then she melts off the toxins and inches at a yoga studio four times a week and plans on certifying to teach in March, 2011.

Jenn Sundt is a recent graduate of the University of Washington who loves to write, read, practice karate, and eat (not necessarily in that order). In 2005, she was a selected winner of 4Culture/King County Metro's Poetry on Buses contest. Since then, she has worked as an English tutor and grocery clerk while exploring the various restaurants of Seattle and the Eastside in her spare time. Her most memorable food experiences have been eating puffer fish (commonly known as fugu) at Shiki's of Queen Anne, as well as eating fermented bean curd (natto) and raw horse meat while home staying in Japan. Jenn currently holds a Bachelor's degree from the University of Washington in Creative Writing. She loves to discuss the ways certain food experiences are made great - and remain as cherished memories for the rest of a person's life.

Kaarin is a Seattle-native and lover of the Emerald City’s cuisine. As a senior at the University of Washington majoring in Communication and Sociology, she is pursuing a career in marketing and public relations. Living on a college budget, Kaarin is always searching for a cheap bite at a local happy hour and documents these experiences on her personal blog. Kaarin has been a passionate dancer her entire life and when not blogging, she can be found breaking it down anywhere where there is a catchy tune. She also enjoys exploring the city, browsing around Seattle-area boutiques, or sipping on a cup of coffee at a local café.

Kelsey Mugford is a senior at the University of Washington studying Communication and Business. She loves to spend rainy Seattle days studying at local coffee shops and exploring the food scene at happy hour. Originally from Southern California, Kelsey loves water sports and Mexican food - and is always on the hunt for a good fish taco. She loves trying new types of food as a way to learn about other cultures, and eventually hopes to eat her way around the world.

Leah Coakley likes writing about food almost as much as she likes eating it. She first acquired a taste for food lit after reading Salt: A World History and is always seeking new additions to her gastronomic vocabulary. She was born and raised in South Carolina and is politely suspicious of all PNW “Southern fare.” Having landed in Tacoma, the City of Destiny, five years ago, she is a proud Grit City gal who has navigated a good deal of the Northwest by following her nose and her tastebuds. She maintains a keen appreciation for the quality and variety of foodstuffs, co-ops and markets, restaurants, professional and amateur cooks, and dedicated food bloggers around the Sound, especially when it comes to supporting her vegan lifestyle, and looks forward to sharing some favorites with herbivores and omnivores alike.

A Seattle native and marketing student, Michelle has one insatiable appetite. Always up for trying new dishes and never one to back down to a challenge, Michelle enjoys exploring the many types of cuisine the world has to offer. She believes food is social, exciting, and is what brings people together. Her love affair with food began with a disastrous attempt to make Tiramisu in which she ran out of lady fingers (now dubbed by her friends “eww that thing we ate?!”). A novice at the time, she naturally decided to substitute lady fingers with what she could find in her kitchen cabinets. With nothing comparable in sight, corn flakes seemed like a good idea (as Italian grandmothers rolled in their graves) and resulted in a soupy, mushy mess. Ever since then, she has spent her life making up for the irreparable damage she inflicted on her loved ones’ intestinal tracts and most importantly, to the name of cooking. From working in a restaurant, experimenting with new recipes, and keeping a 24-hour surveillance on the Food Network, Michelle has now developed the cooking skills and palate qualifying her as a food blogger in the know. Michelle joins Restauranteers to share her quirky perspective on food and events and to show everyone out there, there is life after corn flakes in Tiramisu.

Szu-ting Yi first developed her love for food and fine cuisine in her home country of Taiwan. Taiwan has an interesting and complex political history, which makes it the only place to sample authentic cuisine from all different regions of China. Dutch, Spanish, and Japanese had occupied or colonized Taiwan for different lengths in the past, each providing their own influence into the culinary diversity. With a solid foundation and true appreciation for food, Szu-ting moved to the States in 1998 to pursue her PhD in computational linguistics from University of Pennsylvania. Almost a decade of living in Philadelphia made possible for Szu-ting to sample diverse ethnic cuisines. During the graduate study, Szu-ting was introduced to outdoor pursuits such as kayaking, skiing, rock climbing and mountaineering. The love towards the outdoors eventually brought her to Seattle where she founded her adventure travel guiding business, LittlePo Adventures. Szu-ting has traveled through Asia, Europe, North and South American gaining an appreciation for not only of the different mountains and cultures, but of the amazing variety food the world has to offer. When she is not leading trips, Szu-ting can be found tasting fresh yellowtail in her favorite Sushi restaurant in Wallingford or writing about new culinary experience in her blog.