When Professional Women Retire: Food for Thought and Palate celebrates women's ways of knowing how to retire into "the good life." Our approach is predicated on the belief that we may transform the outward loss of professional careers and identity to inward gain. Urging a thoughtful assessment of ourselves as retired professional women, we advocate finding a passion leading to tasks that will engage our minds and demand our commitment. We propose ways of living examined lives yet realize that "minding our bellies" is vital to leading a good life. Our favorite recipes, therefore, bring attention to food as a means of individual well-being and social bonding.

The Tool Book offers practical, hands-on information with specific text references and recommended readings, directories of agencies considered especially helpful in posing, answering, or directing inquiries into part-time jobs, volunteer opportunities, continuing education, physical exercise options, and travel destinations. It furthermore shows how the book may be used as a starter text for group explorations, such as seminars, workshops, chautauquas, and focus groups, inviting women to come together to discuss issues, means of mutual support, and community outreach.