What Are A Pair of Chicks From the Sticks Planning at Valley Junction’s Heart of Iowa Market Place?

Authors Jamie Greenland Gorey and Jill Schwalbe Means will sign their new book Two Chicks from the Sticks – Back Home Baking from 5 to 7 p.m. Thursday at the in .

Gorey and Means, whose love of baking and careers in the food industry started in the kitchens of their parents’ Iowa farmhouses, note that they are “on a mission to get families back in the kitchen creating delicious desserts and lasting memories.”

Gorey and Means, who are self-described “best friends forever, are southern Iowa natives who grew up on farms very near each other, participated in 4-H and even had the same first jobs in high school as waitresses and cooks at a local truck stop named The Feed Bunker. They went to college together and then “married and had children and went to different parts of the country.”

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They started a successful blog in 2010 to share their “love of food, family and small town USA.”  Their first book, published this year, remains true to that mission and includes a mix of favorite recipes, useful tips, stories, pictures and fun “Chick Rules”.

Means, who has a degree in food science, first moved to Chicago as a food scientist for Keebler. She helped develop the first potato chips that were baked instead of fried. She returned to Iowa to work at appliance manufacturer Maytag, where her responsibilities included developing and testing new kitchen appliances, including new technology ovens, writing proprietary cookbooks, publishing consumer information and conducting sales training sessions.

“During this time, Jill became the Queen of Ovens. She baked enormous quantities of pies, cakes, cookies and breads every day, not only comparing and documenting how her company’s ovens performed in comparison to competitors’ ovens, but also applying her baking expertise to the development of new ovens,” her biography notes. She currently manages an international kitchen appliance account for a Des Moines advertising agency.

Gorey’s degree in hotel, restaurant and institutional management led her career first to Baker’s Square Restaurants. A position with a Lettuce Entertain You concept called Corner Bakery Café took her to Atlanta, where she resides with her husband Andrew and daughter. When Gorey had the opportunity to work for the world-famous sourdough bakery, Boudin Bakery she started commuting between Atlanta and San Francisco. She took the reins as Director of Operations for Boudin’s new on-site bakery concept, Boudin SF as well as Director of Catering Operations. Weary of the cross-country grind, she returned to Atlanta to devote her energies to her writing and own business ventures.

Heart of Iowa Market Place, which opened in 1986, specializes in Iowa souvenirs and gifts.The store, located at 211 Fifth St., sells gift baskets of Iowa products plus John Deere, Hawkeye and Cyclone merchandise.Its most-popular product, homemade fudge, is closely trailed by products that promote Iowans’ penchant for pigs, cows and corn.