“My ass is hanging off the bed.” Those were the Chef’s first words to me this morning, prompted by one Scout-the-Goldapeake-Retriever’s pushing four paws into me, with his back to the Chef, who was forced out of the bed this way. All six-feet-plus of him, at a quarter ‘til six. The planets are misaligned; that’s … Continue reading Journal Entry: Change Is Bad, Except When It Isn’t
Food
Parenting Story, Part the Second: When A Thousand Miles Separate You From Your Sick Kid
Turns out, the universe was listening last week when I suggested it’s impossible always to protect your child. Especially when he is 26 and presumably the captain of his own ship—and he lives in Tennessee and you live way up in Vermont. Five o’clock a.m. on Wednesday came the messages, one after another, lighting up … Continue reading Parenting Story, Part the Second: When A Thousand Miles Separate You From Your Sick Kid
Journal Entry: It Is Still Winter
And we are almost out of firewood: we have what you see in the photo, plus a bit more stacked on the front porch. No big deal. We don’t depend on it to heat our house, as I did in the beautiful but isolated Vermont loft where I lived between 2013 and 2015. But we … Continue reading Journal Entry: It Is Still Winter
Journal Entry: Sunday Soup and Silver Polish
Polishing the silver on a glorious Sunday afternoon means one of two things: the silver is tarnished, or I’m procrastinating. I leave you to draw your own conclusions. Today I had a vestry meeting after church, which meant I got home mid-afternoon, antsy to move around after sitting on my bum for about three hours … Continue reading Journal Entry: Sunday Soup and Silver Polish
Winter Solace: Food Without Tweezers or Fog
Last night Chef David and I watched The Hundred-Foot Journey, an inspired movie about life and love and beautiful food (and you know you can’t go wrong with Helen Mirren)—the scenery alone is worth your time, to say nothing of the enchanting score: go find it and watch it if you haven’t already, or watch … Continue reading Winter Solace: Food Without Tweezers or Fog
Journal Entry: The Compulsion to Make Soup Continues
Blue Moon Soup. It makes me happy because it brings back so many memories of preparing food with my kiddo in our Knoxville kitchen. The book is not a child's cookbook per se, but a family cookbook. It's easy to add ingredients and seasonings to make the recipes a little more complex. But good soup … Continue reading Journal Entry: The Compulsion to Make Soup Continues
Journal Entry: Spring Cleaning in January
My internal hard drive feels full—not in the “I know everything now” sense. What I mean is, there’s lots of junk on it. Lots of annoying clutter slowing it down, taking up too much space. It needs defragmenting. Or maybe reformatting. I need some intellectual spring cleaning. I’ve also been thinking about the other kind … Continue reading Journal Entry: Spring Cleaning in January
Journal Entry: Confessions of a Christmas Control Freak
Is there any time better for derailing a self-proclaimed control freak than the holidays? I mean the Christmas holidays, and not the beachy summer vacation I’ve been coveting since we had our first cold snap, and forget about poetic hoary frost: I’m talking single digits, when the deck boards outside our back door explode as … Continue reading Journal Entry: Confessions of a Christmas Control Freak
Journal Entry: Sunday, Muddy Sunday
Yesterday Chef David made lefse, a traditional Norwegian flatbread. He comes by it honestly. And I can't resist it. While I was in the other room folding clothes he sailed in with a folded corner of it, steaming hot, butter dripping out of it and all over the floor, and crammed it into my mouth. … Continue reading Journal Entry: Sunday, Muddy Sunday
Dog Story: It Must Be the Biscuits
Whole wheat that gives shy persons the strength to get up and do what needs to be done. Heavens, they're tasty, and expeditious!—A Prairie Home Companion The shy Scout-the-Labish is coming into his own. Although lately I’ve been calling our tawny little guy of unknown parentage a Goldapeake Retriever, hijacking the clever adverts an Australian … Continue reading Dog Story: It Must Be the Biscuits
