During fall months, he tramped the Pingree-Buchanan hills for grouse and pheasants, chased ducks and geese across the Central Flyway and stalked whitetails through late-season standing corn and sunflower fields. “I also experienced North Dakota’s many wonders,” John jokes. “I wonder when I’m going to get out of here, I wonder if I’ll ever get a decent job, I wonder….”

John joined the Navy following high school graduation in 1986 and the wondering became world wandering. As a technician serving on an auxiliary ammunition escort ship, he repaired and maintained internal communication and navigational equipment. He was honorably discharged following a four-year tour that included visits to places like Japan, Singapore and Thailand.

All that travel, and contact with other cultures, had sparked an interest in missionary work and John enrolled in Bible College. He earned his degree in theological studies and, more importantly, met Annie. They married in 1993.

To help pay the bills, John had signed on with an auctioneer and moved furniture in his little, red, 1986 Dodge pickup. He quickly realized there was a need for a reliable mover of high-end furniture in northern California, and in 1996 the Kennedys started Elite Deliveries of Fine Furniture. By 2007, the business occupied 38,000 square feet and employed 35 people, but it also came with lots of California stress.

And through it all the prairies were calling. Over the years John returned as often as possible to visit family, hunt and breathe the fresh air. When the opportunity to purchase the Horace shooting club came up, he and Annie jumped at it and, within weeks, the North Dakota boy was home again.

Like so many great cooks, some of Annie’s first food memories are attached to her mother’s apron strings. She grew up cooking in Oklahoma and Arizona and gave the family palate its southern goodness and spicy Mexican flair. Nothing pre-cooked ever hit the counter or table, and Annie did much of the peeling, cutting, stirring, turning and monitoring of the whole foods. Under Mom’s tutelage, Annie quickly learned a meal is an event to be savored, and cooking it takes time and care.

That attention to detail and meticulous approach to food preparation served Annie well as a teen in one of her first jobs, in a Hofbrau Restaurant. At Hofbrau Annie not only learned to carve a turkey, make and bake pies from scratch and flip eggs for delectable omelettes, but she also gained her first taste of catering. Over the years, she has held many other cooking and food-related jobs, including working in a deli, waitressing and private catering.

After starting a high-end furniture moving business with husband, John, and starting their family, Annie returned to her first love, the kitchen. As a volunteer at the Ramekins Sonoma Valley Culinary School, Sonoma, Calif., she worked with top chefs and gained hands-on experience in many aspects of gourmet cooking and wine pairing. She also amassed a healthy collection of recipes before leaving California for North Dakota’s brand of family friendliness.

At Home on the Range, Annie combines the best of her high-end culinary experiences, the down-home goodness of Mom’s kitchen and the southwestern zing of her youth.