My grandfather, my father’s father, and his sister Julia lived next door to one another from the mid 1930s, when they built their houses, until they died decades later. Their yards were connected by a garden path, their lives communal. My father was an only child, and his four cousins living next door were more … Continue reading Are you my family?
"I know you don't have a minute to talk, but you must tell me: how are my children doing?" These are the first words Harriet says after I answer the phone last Sunday afternoon. Not "Hello." Not "Jennifer?" Straight to the matter Harriet is, and it's one of the qualities I adore most in her. … Continue reading The light heart lives longest. (food, week of 12.1.13)
18 years ago this week I was heading to Jackson, WY to celebrate Thanksgiving with my sister and her new husband chase Bernard. As married readers know, there's no Thanksgiving quite like your first Thanksgiving, the first time you attempt to meld whatever traditions were cultivated in each of you and initiate those of your … Continue reading Setting a new table. (food, week of 11.25.13)
Poor Jane Brody. First there was her personal high cholesterol problem that just got worse, publicly, the more fervently she clung to her own low-fat diet advice. Then, after a few quiet years, came her article debunking food myths which landed her in the Huffington Post hot seat, skewered by Kristin Wartman for gross misstatements … Continue reading In Defense of Jane Brody. (food, week of 11.11.13)
School starts in 10 days, and I am not ready to give up summer.
My mother's parents were farmers, and their farm had everything from peanuts to peaches. They also had blackberry bushes, the harvest of which was my mother's least favorite activity. My mother had fragile alabaster skin, and walking through the blackberry brush left her looking like she'd rolled in a barbed wire fence. At least, that's … Continue reading Blackberry summer.
Yes, I know the joke: there are two types of people in the world, those who believe there are two types of people in the world and those who don't. I am mostly the former with just a bit of the latter. That's how we marketing people are, at least according to all the sales … Continue reading The two types of cooks. (food, week of 7.8.13)
25 years ago today (ish) I graduated from Princeton University with a degree in visual art (photography) surrounded by the expectation that I would do extraordinary things. Our reunion weekend began yesterday, and I am content to be reading about it on Facebook from the comfort of my perfectly ordinary Memphis, TN kitchen, reflecting on … Continue reading 25 ordinary years
