The first rule of knives, in my mother's teaching, was the most important because it has to do with people and relationships. The rule was simple: Knives are not given but sold. If you think a friend or neighbor (or child, partner, or spouse) might enjoy having a particular knife, then tape a penny to … Continue reading No. Knife skills are not bulls*it.
There will be recipes. Is that enough to keep you reading until you find them? Excellent, because there are a few things to cover beforehand. (And, to be clear: there are multiple recipes, all in one post here, all together, because I am too lazy to write about and publish each one of the separately.) … Continue reading A few things: May 2021
This is a pandemic story, though it won't be clearly so until the end. It's an old story, rooted in distant places, long ago. We'll start here: The first time I cooked for other people I was in college. A friend invited several of us to her family's house in Vermont for a Presidents' Day … Continue reading Midnight cooking.
John's yard was a meadow of clover and Queen Anne's lace long before the anti-lawn movement spread to Harvard orTikTok. Our section of the street was a curved tail-end of a longer road, a detour along an otherwise linear path. There was (still is) a cove in the middle of the curve, which gave our … Continue reading A few things: April 2021
A scene from Brené Brown's 2019 "The Call to Courage" (which, if you haven't yet watched, is well worth your time - this story is at the 18:00 mark): A guy walked up to Brené after one of her talks, and he said, "Your work changed my life." He then told her the story of … Continue reading A few things: March 2021
I sent my son back to college last week, waving with what I hope looked like cheerfulness as he backed his truck from the driveway. He returned 20 minutes later, having forgotten something important, though I can't now remember what it was. A shirt, maybe, or a favorite jacket. He pulled in front of the … Continue reading Flat circles.
A few years ago, when I first had an idea of starting a small stationery business, I wanted to start with Valentine's Day cards, which have always been my favorite to send (and, of course, to make). "Who would buy these in a set?" a friend asked. "I mean, why would you need more than … Continue reading A few things: February 2021
Almost exactly four years ago (when I was begging you to #artharder - remember?), a friend said something that I've thought about ever since. We were talking about the election results and what they meant for our friendship (among other things) since we had voted for different candidates. My friend said (paraphrasing here, but it's … Continue reading A few things: January 2021
