By Janette Turner

In the U.S. food world, you can’t get higher than cooking at the Herb Farm and Thomas Keller’s French Laundry. Lisa K. Nakamura has done both and donned an Escoffier toque prior to opening her destination restaurant, Allium, on Orcas Island in 2010. In her spare time, she writes.

Today Nakamura visited EPIC Group Writers to discuss her book, “Bucky The Dollar Bill,” which shows the change occurring when a dollar is spent locally. “The writing is the easiest part,” said Nakamura, who blogs and works social media daily, as advised by her publicist Karen Rosenzweig of One Smart Cookie Marketing. According to Rosenzweig, the key to social media is to “be yourself,” and become friends with bloggers and folks in the media, while building a community and helping others.

“I think there’s a real hunger,” said Nakamura about the value of social media, “to see a real person behind the words.” Whether through writing or cooking, Nakamura is making the effort to meet her fans and connect over shared interests. And of course, she’s hoping Bucky – that dollar bill – also keeps making the rounds.

Next Monday, March 18, EPIC welcomes former U.S. diplomat Alison Krupnick, author of “Ruminations from the Minivan: Musings from a World Grown Large, Then Small,” to the Edmonds Library at 11 a.m. More information on this and other free writing events in Edmonds can be found on the EPIC website.